FC2 vs JC2

[Art Blade]

Here something for you guys who haven't got JC2.

FC2 vs JC2

Right now I'm on winXP where I've got FC2 installed and having read recent posts of FC2 I wanted to play a little. I hadn't touched FC2 during my JC2 experience, that means for around 190 hours (at least steam tells me so, and around 147 hours of game play) I had no other game than JC2 on my screen.

So today after say a little more than a month I returned to Africa and FPS perspective. The first thing that looked awkward was the huge swaying chunk on my screen which I then recognised as "my" hand holding a Desert Eagle. By comparison that gun was bigger than Rico  ;D

The savegame I had loaded put me down in the river next to the waterfall at Goka Falls, in the shadows of those rocks, it was a clear sunny day. I swam and walked to the hut downstream and hopped onto a swamp boat and took off. While following the river I had the idea on my mind to jump off the boat full speed and open my parachute and watch the boat slam into some settlement blowing up on hitting a hard surface.. ah, no. It's not JC2. Killing mercs I missed my fully upgraded SMGs and MG, let alone c-4 and all that. I walked around to get back on a street so I could grab a car, but geez, empty roads. And if you see a car, it's one out of like what, four types? JC2 has got one hundred more.. Well, boats, motorcycles, planes and helicopters included. Planes.. helos.. *sigh* JC2's world feels like 100 times bigger than FC2's maps.

I had to wait until an ATP came past again, shot the mercs and took off to the arms dealer to revise my loadout. On the way I thought how pale the skies looked, and how much more colourful it was in JC2. Also I was thinking about how cool it was in JC2 that vehicles which hammered into something always exploded while in FC2 they didn't.

The arms dealer (armoury) was not really so cool. I have got all weapons and upgraded, too, yet the choice basically is the same all the time, two sets of loadouds: 6P9 or M-79, SMP5 or Dragunov, Dart or RPG. Sometimes for fun Desert Eagle or MAC-10. The "upgrades" are laughable compared to JC2.

Alright, FC2 sports real nice fires. It is fun to blow up something and watch the area catch fire or flick a molotov some place and set it alight :) That's something JC2 really misses out on.

I drove to the savehouse where the Prince leaves you his gold-trimmed jeep, and instead a hang glider was sitting there (in that savegame, I had had returned from Bowa to horse around in Leboa). Man, hang gliding sucks compared with parachuting and grapple hook  :) Also, I hate invisible walls and barriers. Trying to cross certain areas or climb rocks in FC2 almost always makes you bump into those and you have to run around the obstacle and miss out on a nice view from the top of a rock. JC2 is really open world without any barriers apart from "the sky is the limit."

Overall, FC2 can't compete with all the goodies of JC2, but the mercs are definitely more fun in FC2 ;D

[fragger]

Thanks for the comparo, Art. Now I'm really drooling...

I must say, the tiny bit I got to experience of JC2 backs up what you said. Right away, the environment made me go, "Hell, yeah!"

I'll get there one way or another, even if I have to hijack a plane full of ATI cards :-*

[spaceboy]

a great read Art.  I feel the same way.  I think FC2 would have been difficult to traverse if we'd played JC2 first.  Having no limits on getting around and all the activity as you describe really makes Panau a wonderful place to spend some time.  I also really like having the friendly factions and being able to just take a sports car or motorbike cruise pretty much without getting shot at (well maybe a little  ;D )

[Art Blade]

Welcome, fragger :)

Thanks, spaceboy  :)

Since I'm still on my XP "part" of my PC (dual boot, same machine as w7) I kept playing FC2 some more.

What annoyed me was how long it takes to get from A to B and always having to fight either with mercs or malaria attacks. In JC2, like spaceboy commented, you actually can move around without being harassed by anybody unless you decide to participate in a shoot-out between govmen and facmen or violate general laws (shoot civilians, blow stuff up, trespass army facilities). Indeed, grabbing any kind of vehicle or using the grappling hook with or without your parachute and moving around is chillaxing in JC2. Different vehicles are not limited to the same speed as in FC2 (almost identical speed there), instead you can use fast versions like sports cars, fast motorcycles, speed boats, even fighter jets.. and just cruise around. In FC2 you haven't got a quiet trip for long. Also, the world in FC2 is comparatively empty (and predictable, those patrol routes are always the same) while in JC2 there is random civilian life combined with random govmen and facmen encounters, streets are busy with pedestrians and traffic, there are planes in the air (let's not talk about military choppers that only show up when you've been rather naughty, hehe), ships of all sorts can be seen (and used) etc.. JC2 is a living world. And more colourful and diverse (snowy mountains, grassy plains and jungle, desert, sea, rivers.. just "wow").

The only downside is that JC2 is third person, but really, being a FPS fan, the world of JC2 is better like that. If I had to do what you can do in JC2 from a FPS point of view, it would be not as easy and not as graceful. Generally speaking. I admit that driving cars or bikes might be better FPS style, but you get so used to third person view that after a while you won't mind nor notice any more.

I think FC2 now is only of sentimental value and perhaps the only two good things left are the ability to set stuff alight and listening to those (still) funny merc lines. Everything else.. JC2 is just better.  :)

[PZ]

Excellent comments, and I can wholeheartedly agree with each and every one.  To summarize my perspective (which is like all of yours), I think of FC2 as first generation open world game while JC2 is definitely a new generation with so much more to do, and much fewer restrictions.

I also have to mention the colors - the FC2 world is rather washed out and drab when compared to JC2.

Before I'm blasted for saying negative comments about FC2,  ;D let me also say that I've spent more time with FC2, my first open world game, than I have with any other, and for me, it set the stage for gaming appreciation that I'd not had in a couple of decades or more.

I'd also reiterate the first vs. third person comments - I found it a bit awkward when I first started with 3rd, but once you start, it is relatively evident that the game shouldn't be played any other way.  Especially when you realize that there are so many different body actions that you would miss in first person view - grapple, parachute, etc.

[Art Blade]

Nice comments, PZ :) I can fully relate.

A few more things about JC2:

While in FC2 you need to go to an arms dealer, in JC2 he comes to you.. whip out a beacon (basically: call him) and there he is. Not only does he sell weapons (along with ammo) but vehicles and on top, he offers fast travel to any location you've been to before.

Weapons and vehicles can be upgraded, essentially making them more powerful. Like the MG, fully upgraded you only need four or five rounds to blow up a car, twice as many to blow up armoured cars, and you can take down helos or torpedo boats with it (there are other weapons which can do that, too). The weapon choice is nice, you carry two one-handed and one two-handed weapons with you. Dual wield means you can for example carry a pistol in one hand and an SMG in the other. You don't have to fire them simultaneously but you may if you want to. Weapons range from pistols over rifles (yes, including sniper) to rocket launcher and grenade launcher. Hand grenades are general equipment and C-4 works like IEDs. But upgrading those really adds some punch :)

The action is great. You can walk around innocently, then jump onto the hood of a passing car, surf it, throw out the driver and take over. Go full throttle and jump out of the car to watch it plough through oncoming traffic and explode. Jumping out of the car means literally jump out and roll elegantly to the side or jump out and whip out your parachute which takes you up into the air. From there you can use your grapple hook to gain momentum or climb up slopes and hills or houses and sky scrapers. To move around quickly you simply grapple onto anything you see in a range of say 50 metres or more, pull up to it and either repeat or open the chute to start gliding.. you see, there are endless possibilities of getting around. The grapple also allows sophisticated combat, you can pull a guard from a watch tower with it and watch him drop dead or shoot him mid-air. You can grapple an object or person and continue with grappling onto another object or person which tethers it to whatever it was. The result depends on if either one of what you grappled was moving. You can have a lot of fun with the grapple hook alone :)

Physics are over the top, rag doll effects are hilarious, vehicles flip and fly, same with persons, and you can jump off a roof four stories high and shrug it off as if you had stumbled. Your health bar increases over time by collecting armour parts, so even if you hurt yourself (or get shot at or blown up) chances are that you'll survive ridiculous stunts :)

Did I mention that JC2 is cool?  ;) ;D

[PZ]

So true!  There are very few limitations in JC2.  I love the grapple - quite often I like to position myself so that when I pull a govman, he'll fall to his death.  The potential is endless.

[mir24]

I recall seeing this somewhere but can't remember where. So I thought I'd post it here anyways so everyone can have a good look (again)...

http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/large-video-game-worlds2.jpg

Enjoy!

[deadman1]

I saw FUEL in that list and I remeber one time whem I drove from the NW corner to the SE corner. It took 3-4 hours real time if I remember correctly.

[Art Blade]

I recall seeing this somewhere but can't remember where. So I thought I'd post it here anyways so everyone can have a good look (again)...

http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/large-video-game-worlds2.jpg

Enjoy!

I believe you meant this:

speaking of game world size,  this thread shows an interesting size comparison with JC2 as the biggest viewable in the pic  (other largers ones such as FUEL are just noted) but look at all the numbers as well (and see FC2 in the mix!)

http://forums.eidosgames.com/showthread.php?t=108703

Nothing I can't find  ;)

[ninzza]

I agree that JC2 is better than FC2 in many aspects: much bigger, more colorful, more diversed, living world, easy and fast travel, crazy stunts, infinite paruchute, grappling hook ... but I still like FC2 better than JC2 because :
1. I prefer FPS over TPS.
2. The shooting of FC2 is much more exciting than JC2. The guns of JC2 sound and feel weak, and they're too limited.
3. The enemies of JC2 is not as fun as FC2's.
4. Fire propagation.
5. Although FC2's wolrd is much smaller, less colorful than JC2's but the atmosphere feels better.

Just my 2 cents.  :)

[Art Blade]

thanks for those thoughts :) I will not dump FC2, and I still bail out of JC2 to play some FC2  :)

[mandru]

Interesting perspectives. Thanks for posting comparisons Art.

[Art Blade]

very welcome, mandru  :)

[Art Blade]

Oh, there is one detail I didn't mention:

While in the air parachuting, you can indeed use a one-handed firearm (SMG, pistol) and on top, drop hand grenades or C-4. Like that, I took out pursuing vehicles, blew up government facilities and shot enemies, all from above  ;D

And no, you can't puke down at people in the streets while parachuting high above them ;D

edit:

even a two-handed weapon (MG in my case) can be fired "single-handedly" while parachuting :)

[PZ]

... drop hand grenades or C-4. Like that, I took out pursuing vehicles, blew up government facilities and shot enemies, all from above  ;D

I like dropping explosives from above, but prefer using C-4 because the grenades typically explode before they reach the target (I guess I drop them from too high up)  ;D

[Art Blade]

you do  ;D

grenades do explode whereas c-4 packs just stick to whatever you hit with those and then it takes some (although little) time to detonate c-4. So when I am in the middle of a situation, I drop hand grenades, and if I want to "prepare" a location for later destruction, I use c-4 -- I'd find a hideout (preferably high, a rooftop) and detonate the place from there.

[PZ]

Yeah, but I'm afraid of bullets coming up from the ground  ;D

[Art Blade]

That will stop quite abruptly after introducing the guys shooting at you to your 'nades  ;D

[PZ]

True, but those govmen are bad-a$$es!  ;D

[Art Blade]

Alright, c-4 then  ;D

[PZ]

What I really like is that there is so much to choose from in the technique arena - I never become bored, and as others have mention, manage to get side-tracked quite often as I chase down something different than I had originally intended.

[fragger]

While in the air parachuting, you can indeed use a one-handed firearm (SMG, pistol) and on top, drop hand grenades or C-4. Like that, I took out pursuing vehicles, blew up government facilities and shot enemies, all from above  ;D

I love that idea! I longed to be able to drop IEDs or grenades from the hang-gliders in FC2. But of course, I couldn't...

[Ricamundo]

Seems a shame that JC2 cant be played as an FPS. If Bethesda did it with FO3, why not others? I mean you could double your potential market with both perspectives.

[tehsam016]

I wouldn't say it's completely 3rd person though. Whenever in mounted guns you go into first person. Besides, the flips and stunts wouldn't look as impressive if in first, and the world is so big it would most likely be overwhelming, especially with the fast paced nature of the game (i.e. grappling). It still would be nice however for getting good pictures without Rico in the shot.