Far Cry: Primal

[baelthazar]

Well the console reviews are decent, 7.9 and 8 on IGN and Gamespot respectively. Seems on par with other Farcry games. But Arkham Knight proves console reviews do not match PC reviews, so TB is totally right.

[YellowKing]

I'm pretty surprised, given what I had read from early previews, that it scored as high as it did. I was fully expecting a 6 from Gamespot. They're usually very unforgiving of games that are derivative (see Arkham: Origins).

I'm happy it turned out decent, though. I'll definitely pick it up when it hits $30 or less.

[baelthazar]

Yeah, I was surprised that Gamespot gave it a higher (or basically the same) score as IGN. They will give something a 7 that IGN gives a 8.9.

[jztemple2]

I see that they have announced that PC pre-loading has now started.

[Max Peck]

And Steam pre-loading is no longer an issue.

[coopasonic]

I played for 15 minutes this morning. I didn't get very far. The graphics are quite pretty (to my not very picky eyes).

[Sepiche]

Yeah, I noticed it had unlocked and I played an hour or so before bed last night. So far seems fun, although I can't help but think at some point I'm going to miss having an assault rifle at my side... it is very satisfying to score a headshot on a cannibal though.

[coopasonic]

Yeah, I noticed it had unlocked and I played an hour or so before bed last night. So far seems fun, although I can't help but think at some point I'm going to miss having an assault rifle at my side... it is very satisfying to score a headshot on a cannibal though.

Who needs an assault rifle when you can have a pet saber tooth tiger?

[coopasonic]

speaking of saber tooth tigers... I've heard wooly mammoths are no good at stealth.

[Sepiche]

Played a few more hours of it last night and got a little farther in the story. It's not bad, but it's not going to wow anyone that wasn't already a fan of the Farcry games.

A few pros and cons so far:
+ Unique and well made setting
+ Building up your village is a lot of fun
+ Beast master elements are thematic and entertaining

- All the dialog being in a fake language and subtitled gets old
- Basically feels like Farcry 3 & 4 with all the fun weapons removed
- Looks fairly good, but some textures are surprisingly low res
- I don't know if it's poor AI or what, but so far the enemies are pushovers. Even large, late game outposts are pretty easy to take

[coopasonic]

I played a couple of hours last night. Upgraded a few things in my village, got a couple pets, explored a bit.

The enemies aren't very tough. It was funny, during the early defense mission, I don't think I lost anyone, then I come back from punishing the Udam and Sanya is crying over all the dead. It would have been nice if they would have recognized how I wrecked the Udam in that mission.

[jztemple2]

Played a few more hours of it last night and got a little farther in the story. It's not bad, but it's not going to wow anyone that wasn't already a fan of the Farcry games.

A few pros and cons so far:
+ Unique and well made setting
+ Building up your village is a lot of fun
+ Beast master elements are thematic and entertaining

- All the dialog being in a fake language and subtitled gets old
- Basically feels like Farcry 3 & 4 with all the fun weapons removed
- Looks fairly good, but some textures are surprisingly low res
- I don't know if it's poor AI or what, but so far the enemies are pushovers. Even large, late game outposts are pretty easy to take

Great analysis

Seeing this game discussed keeps making me want to go back and replay Far Cry 2... there were no animal interactions in that game, but I thought it was a lot of fun. Also, no weird dream sequences

[coopasonic]

Also, no weird dream sequences

No, just the damn malaria.

[jztemple2]

Also, no weird dream sequences

No, just the damn malaria.

I'd forgotten about the malaria ... but that was a good device to keep you going back to play certain missions so you could get medicine.

I guess one of the things that I found less interesting in FC3 and FC4 were the very scripted mainline missions. I remember one in FC4 where you ran around in a burning building; if you missed this jump and that shimmy on a narrow ledge you died and the sequence started over and you tried again and again.... Does Primal have those same sort of scripted missions?

[Sepiche]

Does Primal have those same sort of scripted missions?

Yup. I haven't seen any that are too difficult yet, but they are there.

[Smoove_B]

- Basically feels like Farcry 3 & 4 with all the fun weapons removed

It should feel like Far Cry 4 -- apparently they used the same map.

[Max Peck]

- Basically feels like Farcry 3 & 4 with all the fun weapons removed

It should feel like Far Cry 4 -- apparently they used the same map.

Heh, maybe they're both legitimately located in the same locale, just separated by 12000 years.

I've been enjoying Primal (except for the spirit walk stuff, which I find annoying), but maybe it helps that I've only finished some of Far Cry 3 and haven't even bought Far Cry 4, so I'm not burned out on the formula.

[coopasonic]

The way you navigate the world is so completely different, I don't think I would have ever noticed that it is the same. You didn't spend a lot of time traveling on foot in FC4.

I spent a little more time with this last night. Initially I was worried about prioritizing what to play once The Division comes out, but Primal is not really holding up for me. The funny thing is part of it is going to be an issue with The Division too... headshots aren't auto-kills. WTF. If I put an arrow in your skull you stop fighting dammit. Because of that, the stealth side of the game isn't holding up for me. I always play these things stealthy and as soon as I put an arrow in a guy, the alarm goes up and it's chaos... and THAT is when I miss the AK.

[Max Peck]

The way you navigate the world is so completely different, I don't think I would have ever noticed that it is the same. You didn't spend a lot of time traveling on foot in FC4.

I spent a little more time with this last night. Initially I was worried about prioritizing what to play once The Division comes out, but Primal is not really holding up for me. The funny thing is part of it is going to be an issue with The Division too... headshots aren't auto-kills. WTF. If I put an arrow in your skull you stop fighting dammit. Because of that, the stealth side of the game isn't holding up for me. I always play these things stealthy and as soon as I put an arrow in a guy, the alarm goes up and it's chaos... and THAT is when I miss the AK.

I've been getting one-shot kills with headshots. The only real exceptions seem to be the heavy armored elites with their bone helmets. I just unlocked the longbow last night, so I'm looking forward to a chance to try it out against them, since it ramps up the damage enough that it gets one-shot kills on regular Udam without needing to hit them in the melon. I've also levelled up my owl to the point where he can take out an elite, so one way or another their goose is cooked.

[Max Peck]

The game managed to surprise me today. I wandered into a campfire site at night, and heard some grunting noises. Upon investigating, I discovered a pair of Wenja (in flagrante delicto) just outside the range of the campfire light. Then, just as they were disengaging, a sabertooth tiger leapt from the darkness and began to maul them. I was laughing so hard that the damned beast escaped before I could take it down.

[baelthazar]

Yeah Coop, I get headshot kills. Now the hitbox is a little small (and no scope), not to mention that your aim wavers until you get the skill that lessens the waver. If it says "HEADSHOT" above the guy, then he usually falls down dead. Now animals are a different story, but it does make sense that a mammoth wouldn't immediately die from a shot to the head from an arrow.

I haven't seen any canoodling, so I will have to keep looking. There are some great procedural elements in the game. I was taking on a group of boars as part of a mission when, out of the blue, a bear barrels (see what I did there) into camp, tears up some boars and then proceeds to consider my head a tasty snack. Suddenly, what should have been an easy boar hunt, turned into a drag-out fight between a black lion, a bear, and a heavily wounded caveman.

[coopasonic]

Finished it. I enjoyed it, but I think I like guns and vehicles better (not that a mammoth is a *bad* ride). The end just sort of happened... I guess I did things out of order that made it seem like it limped across the finish line.

[jztemple2]

I saw this article on Rock, Paper, Shotgun: Playing Far Cry Primal Like A True Caveman.

When Far Cry Primal [official site] was unveiled, I shrugged with semi-feigned disinterest, aware that the series has hit milking point, but unable to dismiss the inner teenager tugging at my inner sleeve saying But – but it’s got cavemen and tribes and woolly mammoths and – and you can ride them, and throw spears and stuff! Yes, the prehistoric era taps into a primal fantasy in me, but when that’s overlaid with an advanced radar, an owl endowed with the abilities of a military drone, and heat-vision that conveniently colour-codes every object, footprint and smell, the fantasy kind of tapers off.

By shutting off as many aids and HUD elements as possible, I intended to reclaim the fantasy.

I wasn't wildly excited about Primal (get it, "wild" ) when it came out but maybe I'll get it when there is a sale and give this play mode a try.

[Max Peck]

1.2.0 patch notes

Spoiler:

Stability & Performance

• Improved performance and stability
• Fixed low occurrence specific crashes

Gameplay

• Improved the overall difficulty of a mission
• Fixed an edge case issue where the XP is not updated
• Fixed issue where the kills from companion animals does not update under specific condition
• Fixed a bug where a weapon switched automatically when using the speed boost
• Fixed a rare issue where the player is vulnerable when trying to heal
• Fixed a low occurrence issue where the player is unable to loot
• Fixed an issue where the player can be teleport outside the mission zone when riding any animals
• Fixed issues with Hardsave not functional if the user performs specific action
• Fixed a trophy update issue when taming one of the beasts
• Fixed a player’s movement issue when capturing an outpost
• Fixed a 2 second freeze when players pause the game during few specific animations
• Fixed a waterfall effect issue during a cinematic
• Fixed an edge case issue where the player cannot pet smaller companions
• Fixed an issue where the “heal beast” and “ride” actions does not always work on sloping terrain
• Fixed a blood trail visual issue when using the hunting vision

Lighting and FX

• Fixed some lighting issues in specific areas

Wildlife and AI

• Improved the AI navigation in a specific outpost
• Fixed low occurrence navigation issues with the companions
• Fixed some edge case animation issues with animals and companions

Missions/Activities/World

• Fixed Missions and Activities blockers when performing specific actions
• Fixed few spawning issues with the players and specific animals
• Fixed an issue where the player can complete one of the mission twice
• Fixed issues where the player can’t climb a vine when performing certain actions
• Fixed edge case issues where the player can remain stuck if he interacts with stones and plants
• Fixed an issue where the player is unable to fast travel
• Fixed objective issues when performing specific actions
• Fixed edge cases navigation issues in the World

Menu/UI/Map

• Added an option to not show enemies in the minimap
• Added a button to disable the HUD option
• Added new tutorial page to match description and picture
• Fixed an issue where a button is misplaced in the reward stash
• Fixed some displaying issues with the HUD and the World Map
• Fixed an issue where a fail prompt does not appear under specific conditions
• Fixed an issue where the XP prompt remains present on the HUD
• Fixed icons issues in specific activities
• Fixed few minor issues where a waypoint is not displayed properly
• Fixed an issue where the outpost counter does not update
• Added a visual guideline for one of the achievements

Audio

• Fixed a sound issue with burning fire during the playgo
• Added a missing SFX during a specific Quick Time Event attack
• Added a missing Audio line during a cinematic

Localization/Text

• Fixed issues when subtitles go past menu borders in some languages
• Fixed an issue where collectibles text can be overlapped by an event notification
• Added missing subtitles when skipping a cinematic
• Fixed incorrect messages appearing on screen after specific actions

[Max Peck]

Survival mode coming on 12 April.

[Blackhawk]

I finished this yesterday on the PS4. I even got my platinum trophy because it seemed like a relatively easy one to go for (for those that don't Playstation, you get a platinum trophy for getting every other trophy (achievement) in the game.) Since I started the thread, I figured I'd post my final impressions. There may be some mild content-related (not story related) spoilers here.

It is Far Cry. If you've played Far Cry 3 or 4, you know what you're getting into. It has all the same highs and all the same lows. More specifically, it is Far Cry 4. They tweaked the map. They added sabertooth tigers, and they gave the elephants fur. Everything else, from the eagles to the animations, are straight retextures of the enemies from Far Cry 4. This isn't all intended as a criticism, but to show what you're actually getting. You'll be capturing forts and outposts, you'll be grappling up cliffs, you'll be grabbing collectables, skinning animals to craft bigger ammo bags quivers. You'll be doing stealth takedowns of sentries and running side missions for NPCs. There are no guns, of course, but there are the sling (pistol) the spear (heavy weapon) the bow (fast firing assault weapon), the longbow (slow firing sniper weapon) and the double bow (shotgun.) You crafted ammo on the fly, and there was zero scarcity once you had a couple of upgrades.

There were a few new mechanics. They had skills you can learn divided up by the NPCs that teach them to you, and you had to recruit those NPCs into your village to access their skills. You also had to build up your village by spending materials to upgrade the NPCs' huts, or by rescuing villagers from the other tribes to hit population milestones before certain upgrades and skills became available. You could tame beasties which would follow you around as a pet and help you fight. There were probably 20 different animals you could tame from badgers and wolves to bears and sabertooths. Each had its own benefits (one might be able to sniff out nearby resources, another might mark enemies for you.) A few (sabertooths, bears, plus mammoths) you could ride, which took the role of vehicles. The downside was that each successive tier was far more effective than the tier before, meaning that you'd move quickly to the more powerful animals and never, ever see most of those in the lower tiers.

There was also the owl. You could summon an owl and fly it around, seeing through its eyes. The owl would mark any enemy it flew over. With a couple of upgrades it could also drop any bomb you could carry - bee bomb, fire bomb, gas bomb. This is more useful than it sounds. Taking down outposts with stealth were always one of the frustrations in FC3/4. They just weren't build for stealth. With the owl, it was a breeze. Hide outside the village, summon the owl. Fly around and mark all the targets, then drop the hallucinogenic gas bombs on the enemies. Do the sentries first, then hit the others. Wait two or three minutes, and all of the enemies will have killed each other. You have captured the outpost undetected without ever setting a foot inside. Of course, this did make them a little bit trivial and dull.

It's fun. It is very thematic. The aesthetic, from the language to the world to the theme of the quests works. The mysticism that has suffused the previous two games (visions, for instance) actually feels at home here, as much of it comes straight from a shaman and a people for whom animistic superstition is a way of life. They do a good job of bringing the feel of being a cave man to life.

The story is about what you'd expect. You're the de-facto leader of a village of one who sets out to conquer the entire land by battling your way to the top to kill the leaders of the other two peoples in the area. One are a tribe of human fire-worshipers called the Izila, the other are neanderthal left-over called the Udam. Other than a few cosmetic differences (one throws fire bombs, the other gas bombs), they're not that different. The story is short for a Far Cry. It is longer than Blood Dragon, but nowhere near as long as FC3 or FC4. That's not a bad thing. The gameplay in Far Cry games tends to run thing long before the stories run out. This time I was only starting to burn out by the time I approached the end-game.

It is still Far Cry, though. It is very easy to go out collecting materials to craft and getting all the good stuff early, making the remainder of the game really easy, and removing the joy of discovery completely by the end.

I'm glad I played it. It was a Fathers' Day present, and I had a lot of fun with it. It was shorter, but that was a good thing. It was thematic and had style, but still had all of Far Cry's weaknesses.


As an aside, I was playing this alongside The Witcher 3. It is actually surprising how similar the two are. A big map covered in question marks waiting for you to discover the secrets and fast travel points. A special vision mode that let you see enemies and collectibles. Grabbing herbs to make healing and buffs. Killing animals and collecting 'stuff' to make better gear. Similar icons on the minimap. It is a completely different type of gameplay, but I have a feeling that Witcher 3 team took a lot of cues from the Far Cry series, something that you might not notice until you played them together. As it was, though, I sometimes found myself getting mixed up as to which mechanics went with which game. They really were that similar.

[jztemple2]

I finished this yesterday on the PS4. I even got my platinum trophy because it seemed like a relatively easy one to go for (for those that don't Playstation, you get a platinum trophy for getting every other trophy (achievement) in the game.) Since I started the thread, I figured I'd post my final impressions. There may be some mild content-related (not story related) spoilers here.

Thanks for your impressions. I really do have to pick this up some time.

[Daehawk]

Ok Ive not played far into it yet. Ive just visited the shaman and had my owl dream. I was looking at my skills and it struck me there may be some not worth getting and so I figured Id ask you on OO if thats the case. I dont like to waste points. Other than the skills its given me automatically I think Ive picked an extra health bar so I have 3 now and show plants on my mini map.

Are there skills I should simply avoid or ones I really need to take? More importantly should I ever save skill points or just use them as I get them even if there doesn't seem to be a handy skill I like to put it in?

[Max Peck]

Polygon's beginner's guide has some pointers on skills as you're starting out.

The best skills to focus on early in the game are:

1. Taming Skills. The earlier you can tame powerful animals, the more useful they'll be. The mammoth and saber-toothed tiger are excellent choices here, especially since you can ride them later.
2. Gathering and Crafting skills. Getting more material and crafting more items for less work makes the whole game less frustrating.
3. Health Bar. The more difficult you are to kill, the better — especially when others are armed to the teeth, just like you.

Some skills aren't useful until later, when you're trying to grind crafting and upgrade materials. We also didn't find much use for traps, so we avoided skills related to them.

Depending on your weapon preference, you can also choose skills to upgrade those. We'd suggest the Bow Handling and Bow Sprint Reload skills for starters, since you'll be relying on ranged combat for extended periods of time. This is especially important if you're going to remain stealthy.

[Blackhawk]

Also, are you a thorough player, or the type that just rushes through the core of the game?

I'm a thorough player, and I easily unlocked every single skill long before the end of the game. You'll have points to burn.

[Daehawk]

Very thorough. I like to take my time , see all the sights, and grab everything I can carry.

Silly me looked and looked for a way to make arrows. I couldn't figure out if I was missing wood or what. Then I finally just stumbled into making more by clicking the bow in the weapon menu. Some of the stuff seems silly the way they do it in this game. Im still figuring out the crafting. Usually its straight forward but in this game it seems a little convoluted.

[Blackhawk]

Very thorough. I like to take my time , see all the sights, and grab everything I can carry.

Then don't worry too much. Every build is identical (everything), so take what fits your needs the most. One thing I found very useful to take early was the ability to get extra rare ingredients, though.

I'll give you one strategy that was insanely powerful. Combine the insanity bombs that make enemies attack each other with the owl's ability to drop bomb. You can take out entire enemy camps without every setting foot inside or setting off an alarm. Just bomb the 'special' units and let the hack each other to bits.

[Daehawk]

hahaha that sounds too fun

[razgon]

If you want a more intense and not so crowded experience, definitely play survival mode. It's a lot more engaging.

[KDH]

...... I'll give you one strategy that was insanely powerful. Combine the insanity bombs that make enemies attack each other with the owl's ability to drop bomb. You can take out entire enemy camps without every setting foot inside or setting off an alarm. Just bomb the 'special' units and let the hack each other to bits.

Yahtzee Croshaw agrees @ 3:49

Spoiler:

[Blackhawk]

"...ability to drop bomb..." '...without every setting foot..." Wow, I can't type late at night.

[Daehawk]

Is it just me doing something wrong or does the wolf refuse to attack other animals? I can target a caveman and click attack and he'll go after him. But no matter how much I click...with the crosshair red too...he will not attack other animals of any type.

[Daehawk]

Does anyone consider the sling to be a weapon worth crafting?

[Blackhawk]

Hell, yes. I used that thing all the time for knocking stuff down. Infinite ammo!

[Daehawk]

Ohhh ok. I was wondering where Id get ammo for it. Well that could come in handy.