PZ's impressions

[PZ]

One thing I noticed while playing some of the main areas is that there appears to be at least one helicopter available for you to fly.  I've been regularly completing 100% since using this technique:

• Enter the area and kill all the guards - using the grapple hook repeatedly to bring them close enough for your melee weapon is fun and effective.  This even works for small groups - just keep reeling them in and they don't have time to fire much.
• Look for a mounted minigun - seems to be at least one of these in a major area too.  Unmount it and walk around dealing out chaos.  Be sure to check the roof tops for SAMs - there are typically two per area.  Take them out easily with the minigun.
• Look for the armed helicopter and fly it slowly above the area looking for more chaos items, but more importantly the flashing white of an object that you need to pick up in order to advance your percentage.  Fly showly and look carefully around - from this high vantage point you can usually spot all of the items unless they are hidden beneath an overhang or similar.  Try to kill most, if not all of the enemy before you enter the copter else they might radio in for backup which often consists of another attack helicopter.
  

[Art Blade]

That sounds like a really useful tactic.  :-X

Impressive, "unmount it and walk around" LOL  ;D In the videos I watched I didn't see that, nor a symbol telling me that you can. Anything to watch out for, like icons, or can you always unmount weapons?

[ninzza]

OK I'm now 5% complete with 12:35 hours in but the Political debate faction mission is killing me. I hate timed missions.

[PZ]

That sounds like a really useful tactic.  :-X

Impressive, "unmount it and walk around" LOL  ;D In the videos I watched I didn't see that, nor a symbol telling me that you can. Anything to watch out for, like icons, or can you always unmount weapons?

Not all, but some.  I've not been able to un-mount the guns on vehicles, but you can in the cement "pill boxes" and other fixed structures.  This is a very useful technique because they have unlimited ammo on the casual level (don't know about the higher levels though).

The HUD will let you know if you can remove the weapon from it's mount.

I'm still having a great time in the game, and will return to it momentarily  :-X

[PZ]

OK I'm now 5% complete with 12:35 hours in but the Political debate faction mission is killing me. I hate timed missions.

I'm at 6% and approximately 13 hours into the game.  I've found approximately 12 out of 307 settlements - this is going to be a long game, well worth the price if you count it by the hour  ;D

I'm totally with you ninzza, I really dislike the timed events myself.

[Art Blade]

There is a whole club here at OWG who hate timed events, including myself  ;) ;D

[PZ]

There is a whole club here at OWG who hate timed events, including myself  ;) ;D

Seemingly more each time we talk about it  ;D

On another note, the game has a strange way of saving - evidently you start in one area no matter where you were when you saved the game.  For instance, there is a stronghold that I cleared early in the game and whenever I die, that is where I re-spawn, no matter where I died.  In fact, when I save a game in another area and die, I still start out at the first stronghold.  The game saves merely record your game stats (money, etc) rather than position.

@ninzza - I don't know if this might be your problem at 96-ish% but it took me the longest time to realize that there is an antenna that comes out of a platform that you need to destroy to reach 100% in some of the areas.  The platform looks almost like a small helicopter pad, and has three terminals that you activate, after which the antenna rises out of the ground.  You then have a short time to destroy the top of the antenna before it descends.

[spaceboy]

PZ - Where you start from when starting up the game is at the nearest faction stronghold (of any of the 3 factions) from where you were when you died or quit.  If you are spending time in a certain area it may seem like its always the same one, but it actually picks the nearest stronghold.   It's not bad but can make things difficult as far as saving at a favorite place.  The actual game saving (stats, items collected etc) is pretty good as it autosaves quite often.

Another tip is to use extraction to get from place to place. 

[ninzza]

There is a whole club here at OWG who hate timed events, including myself  ;) ;D

Seemingly more each time we talk about it  ;D

On another note, the game has a strange way of saving - evidently you start in one area no matter where you were when you saved the game.  For instance, there is a stronghold that I cleared early in the game and whenever I die, that is where I re-spawn, no matter where I died.  In fact, when I save a game in another area and die, I still start out at the first stronghold.  The game saves merely record your game stats (money, etc) rather than position.

@ninzza - I don't know if this might be your problem at 96-ish% but it took me the longest time to realize that there is an antenna that comes out of a platform that you need to destroy to reach 100% in some of the areas.  The platform looks almost like a small helicopter pad, and has three terminals that you activate, after which the antenna rises out of the ground.  You then have a short time to destroy the top of the antenna before it descends.

Thankfully, FC2 doesnt have that kind of missions.
Thanks PZ but now I don't bother getting 100% in those areas (military bases, stronghold ...)

[PZ]

Thanks space, I only had the one stronghold cleared so your explanation makes perfect sense.  I've a second one cleared now, but I don't like it as much - there's no jet!  :'(

On a side note, I like the game so much that it is now equal to FC2 in my eyes.  Sure there are some annoyances, but I've experienced the following:

• The water is absolutely gorgeous - when standing on thee beach, it is almost like watching a movie of the real world.  The surf action is perfect.  I scuba dive, and this is the first game that I've actually swam underwater just to see the fish, coral, and other sea life - another big plus.
• Driving any vehicle is like Grand Theft Auto - I've driven/flown/sailed dozens of different vehicles, and each has it's own characteristics - plus, there are some with mounted guns - I love it.  In fact, at the stronghold, there are a couple of trucks with gunners just waiting for me to drive away on a mission.
• The world is huge and terrain varied - the graphics are spectacular.  I've flown around just to see the sights, and there are some places that I'd like to have a place of my own - what seems like dozens of little islands, no two the same.  The Palau casino is on a cliff side - it consists of two towers with a waterfall between that is hundreds of feet high - even the beautiful FC2 waterfalls don't compare.
• While there is quite a bit of consistency in the way that the AI works (like in all games), the varied missions play like Uncharted2 - always a new story to unfold.  Just when I think that I've seen it all, there is something new to experience.  In fact, this next part is why I now think of JC2 as equal to FC2 - there are slight spoilers:

• I was on a mission where I was able to fly a plane for the first time - the mission to find a cargo plane that went down.  Evidently, some Japanese from WWII thought that the war was still on.  I went there to disable their hardware which was massive; was able to yank guys off this thousand-foot tall tower and hear them yelling all the way down.  In fact, in their eagerness to get at me, a couple of them actually fell off to their deaths - screaming all the way down.
• The tail end of the mission is where I fell fully in love with the game.  The goal - drive a truckload of cargo down to the beach - simple enough, but has made the game contain "that certain special thing" that does it for me.

You've all played the FC2 mission where you drive the big truck from the dental clinic to Sefapane to blow up the garage - the truck part of the JC2 mission is similar, but with these differences:  The truck in FC2 is clumsy, and is very simplistic compared to the truck in JC2.  For instance, while I was on the mission to destroy the Japanese hardware, my pilot buddy had loaded 6 crates of cargo on the back of the truck.  When we started driving, I noticed a cracking sound, and realized that it came from the crates shifting around in the bed of the truck as I hit bumps or accelerated/decelerated too fast.  In fact, I had to drive the truck carefully, not turn curves too aggressively, nor drive too fast to begin with else damage the cargo.  The diesel sound the truck makes is perfect (you even hear the up shifts/downshifts), and the black smoke emanating from the pipe is as authentic as it gets.  In fact, this mission played out like a movie that I was asking Art about a long time ago (the name escapes me at the moment) - driving a dynamite truck through the South American jungle - only I'm the driver!

Although this game will not be for everyone (e.g., 3rd person) and I'm sure that others might have different opinions, I'm enjoying JC2 more with each mission that I play, and if this keeps up, JC2 will surpass FC2 in my book - and I never thought that I'd be able to write these words.

[Art Blade]

Thanks for the detailed impression, PZ :) I am really looking forward to playing it (erm, first of all, getting it).

As to the film, I think this topic was it, you may need to read around that quote if necessary:

You're probably thinking of Sorcerer with Roy Scheider

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076740/

To spoil it: everyone dies by the end, lol. And don't be turned off by the beginning where it's French with subtitles, the rest of the movie is in English, they just show you the origin of each of the main characters and why they ended up at a rat hole oil drilling company somewhere in South America.

Music by Tangerine Dream , which is why I remembered it, and it is a remake of the movie previously mentioned.

[PZ]

That's it!  I did a search for "dynamite" but did not come up with anything - I'm glad you could find it  :-X

[Art Blade]

you know me  ;) I did search for "movie" and author "PZ"  ;D

[spaceboy]

PZ, I have to agree, I'm loving this game more and more as I play it.  Like I said it seems to marry FC2 and FUEL to me, so it's a match made in heaven.  The fact that the entire island is open to you from the get go is great.  There is no unlocking areas.  The missions have so far been quite varied - I really like the ones that you w@&k with the various factions. 

****Slight spoiler*****

I just did one last night where I needed to defuse 3 bombs set on the Reapers convoy.  You need to catch up, grapple to each car and defuse the bombs, all the while having the MP on shooting and driving along the convoy.  Some great action ensued since you can grapple to the military vehicles if you need to - I hopped to two of them laying triggered explosives (IEDs) to each, jumped back to my convoy vehicle and blew them to pieces.  After defusing the last one I wound up getting entangled for a few seconds with the military but I wanted to catch back up to the convoy (despite the mission being over) and see where they went.  So I quickly grappled and chuted to the point I could grapple back down to the convoy.  It wasn't necessary but you can kind of build your own immersion and story deeper.  I "escorted" and protected them the rest of the way.  Sure enough they did wind up pulling into a little town and a few mercs got out to fight off more military.  It was cool that they kept driving to an actual destination.

[Art Blade]

cool, I'd have expected them to dissolve somehow, or drive towards some border you can't follow any more. Nice :)

[PZ]

Great story space,

I did a mission today that I didn't think that I'd be able to accomplish because I'm just not that coordinated with the controller.  **Slight spoiler** - the mission: destroy 3 helicopters before they blow up a silo.

At the start, there was a helicopter for my use, but because I didn't think that I could do the mission, I just hitched a ride on top of a sports car - "we" drove down the road at break-neck speeds getting into all kinda of trouble.  When the action became too hot, I did air slingshot-ting toward the 3 red blips that I assumed were my targets, but of course I was not in an attack copter.  When I reached them (amazingly), I was able to grapple one of them and throw the pilot out the window, after which I chased the other two and even managed to gun them down, completing the mission!

The side point is that you can do anything you like in the game, and the world is huge.  Because I don't like the time events, I simply don't do them and concentrate on having fun in the rest of the world.  It is simply amazing, the variety of action possible in this "sand box" game.  :-X

[Art Blade]

nicely done, PZ :) Hehehe! Crazy sports car trip, some glider fun, helo-jacking, and destruction of the remaining goals. That sounds like adventure!  ;D :-X

[PZ]

Thanks, Art - it's that kind of unexpected adventure that has me so enthralled with the game.  You never know what's coming up next, nor how you're going to accomplish it.  Opportunities arise at every moment, dependent on which way you run/grapple/jump, etc.  Even without a mission of any kind, you can explore the island discovering new settlements, many of which have a military presence complete with equipment such as helicopters, boats, tanks, etc.  Even though technically not a mission, you still get points for clearing the area to 100%.  In fact, it is lots of fun just riding on the roof of some vehicle while the driver takes you for a "tour" of the area.  What makes it extra fun is that if the driver speeds or does some other outrageous thing, the government troops will start gunning for you.

When I look at my map, I still have a huge amount of area to explore, and am already 30 hours into the game.

[JRD]

Oh man... my laptop just won't run this gaming masterpiece... and I have to wait untill I'm back home with my PC to upgrade it... gonna be a looooooooooong wait...  :'(

[Art Blade]

...at least any bugs will be patched by then  ;D Don't worry, good games are good games, and even a year from now it will still be "recent" enough not to worry about outdated graphics.

[PZ]

Well JRD, you have something else to look forward to in addition to the pleasure of being at home again - the time will pass before you know it.  ;)

In the mean time, we'll keep posting our experiences so you have a sense for how you might approach the game when you finally get to play.

I have to agree with spaceboy in regards to the similarity between Fuel and JC2.  In fact, I'd say that for me, if you took the large beautiful open world of Fuel and added guns, people, and other features you'd have JC2.  I always thought that the Fuel environment was beautiful, but a bit sterile for my tastes - almost like being the last man in the world alive, so it never captured my fancy.  In JC2 however, I often am struck by the breathtaking beauty of the environment, just as I was with Fuel and FC2.

You never feel solitary or really alone in the open world of JC2 - there is always something or someone to interact with.

While I still absolutely love Far Cry 2 as one of my all time favorite games, I'd go one step further and say that it is rather primitive in comparison to JC2.  In fact, I'd be thrilled if Ubisoft programmed a Far Cry 3 with the features of JC2, and that it would be worthy successor to the original FC2.  :-X

I love this game more each time I play it, and no other game has come as close to FC2.

EDIT: I've started a Just Cause2 wiki entry to organize videos.

[PZ]

I'm going to go out on a limb and coin a name for the government troops in the game: govman.

JC2 has it's funny moments as well - I love using the grappling hook as part of my weapon arsenal and have developed enough technique so I actually earned a trophy.  Here are a couple of examples of fun things to do with the hook:

• Grab a govman manning a tower and yank him to the ground - he falls screaming, "thuds" the ground and feels no further pain.
• If a govman is standing on the opposite side of a waterway, yank him into the drink - govmen hate water as much as the FC2 mercs.  ;D
• My favorite method when the govman is kind of far to hit him effectively with your weapons - repeatedly yank him toward you (he can't shoot while being yanked) and when he is close enough, melee him with your grappling hook - some die with a single hit while others that are more resilient can take up to 3-4 hits.  If there are a group of them in the distance all shooting at you - peek around the corner of a building long enough to grapple one and then step back into cover - do this repeatedly until you have dragged him around the corner - then melee him.  Repeat as often as needed.
  

What makes it funny are the words and sounds that come out of those govmen as they're being yanked ever closer - not as good as FC2 lines, but very funny to hear nonetheless.

[spaceboy]

you can also do other fun things such as hanging a govman from a wall by grappling him first then the wall.  You can then go over and melee him to death - do it enough to earn the Pinata Party Trophy!

PS - I like the new JC2 forum!

[Art Blade]

yank him

Any suggestions what non-Americans should do?





<runs away screaming, dodging a wild yank's grapple  ;D>

[PZ]

lol, good one, Art  :-X