OpenWorldGames Server ONE

We've had one for FC2, and we've had one for FC3, so I thought I'd initiate a "tricks and tips" topic for FC4.

And to get the ball rolling, here's a few (I'm figuring to help any newcomers to the game with these - those who have played are probably wise to them already):

There are places where you need to grapple, then swing across to another ledge. Once you've grappled and are hanging on the rope (don't climb up it too high) you can build up a good swing by alternating between your move forward and move backward controls. Build up a good swing, then use your release control above the target ledge to ensure you don't drop too early, fall down the rockface and brain yourself. With a little practice, this Tarzan-swing thing is kind of fun.

To help get your karma and skill levels up quickly, it's worth buying maps. You won't have a lot else to spend your money on early in the game anyway, and money will never be too much of a problem in this game - there are like ten million loot crates out there in addition to the dough and sellable junk that can be scrounged off dead baddies. When you're in a Trading screen, choose Maps and buy South Kyrat > Items. This will reveal locations to all the serial-killer Masks, Propaganda Posters, Mohan Ghale's Journals and Lost Letters (all these award bonus XPs when found) and Mani Wheels (which award Karma points). Before going north, you can also invest in Maps > Mid Kyrat > Items. Doing as many of the spontaneous pop-up Karma events as possible will also help to get your Karma level up faster, which in turn will get you cheaper stuff from shops/safehouse cabinets/Sherpas, among other things. You'll encounter heaps of these random Karma-boosting mini-missions along your way.

Make good use of the gyrocopters! They get you around very quickly, you can fire Sidearms and chuck things from them, and you can land them on the upper level of just about any Bell Tower, negating the need to do a lot of pesky platform jumping and climbing. You can take off again from there as well - unless, like me, you manage to botch the liftoff and send your gyro crashing down the middle of the tower in a rotor-flailing catastrophe...

Don't forget your baits - the animals they attract can cause your enemies a great deal of confusion and hurt, and can be quite an asset for conquering Outposts. Baits won't always w@&k though - sometimes you'll throw a bait and get a message saying something like, "No animals appear to be interested in the bait". Expect to see this if you've just wiped out all the wild animals in the immediate area... Even so, the bait will act like a rock - any enemies within earshot of its landing will hear it and go investigate. You can use plain arrows to distract enemies too, provided you don't fire too close to them.

Remember, elephants can take out more than just bad guys. They can give predatory animals a good trunk-slapping as well. I haven't attempted a one-on-one with a rhino yet - I dunno how Jumbo fares against those armoured juggernauts.

If you're being hassled by a flame-thrower dude, try to flank him and target his tanks. A few well-placed rounds will make them explode and turn the wearer into shish-kebab.

If you equip a mine and try to "place" it while you're standing, Ajay won't place the mine but will instead throw it a short distance. If you want to place a mine precisely: crouch, look down at the ground, then place. Ajay will then plant the mine precisely.

If a friendly AT (Assault Truck) stops near you and the Golden Path people get out, jump into the driver's seat and wait - after a moment, one or more of the GP guys will get back on board, as in FC3. Be careful though if you then use drive-and-shoot - I once had a gunner onboard and I accidentally blew him away whilst shooting behind me...

Finally, you might want to consider going to God mode to get through those silly and tedious Shangri-La missions. There are five of these, and even though all but the first one are optional you'll need to do at least two of them to unlock one of the Skills, which is the "Huntsman" one (reduces sway when using a bow) which in turn you'll need to subsequently unlock the "Breath Control" skill (increase time underwater, using oxygen masks and steadying sniper scopes). If you're anything like me, you'll find the Shangri-La missions to be a serious affront to the spirit of open-world, first-person-perspective shooting games. It may only be my opinionated self, but I think these missions majorly blow in a game mainly made up of majorly-maddening main missions (I may have invented a new tongue-twister there).

Great idea, fragger! +1

I can't add too much because I'm not that good a gamer, but if you are like me and want a boost in your weaponry, go in co-op with a partner that is well advanced in the game.  They can give you any of the weapons they have acquired

very nice, fragger :) +1 :-X

Slap on the back from fragger +1
Oops sorry, finger problem.......... ;D

 :)  :-X  +1

Edit additional: That +1 was for fragger.  :)

But on second thought PZ's tip to access unlocked weapons by playing team with someone willing to round out your armory with their acquired gear earns a +1 too.  :-X

I donate a kudo to Art, who pointed out that possibility in 'PZ's FC4 comments' :-X +1

;)

Binn, that's true but for someone doing a web search of "FC4 Tricks and tips" this thread would be would be the link that would pop up.

In FC2 we had a thread called "(funny) Tactics and Tips " that pulled together every possible edge that could be given to forum members and any visiting player in the game.  If there's going to be a similar useful thread (that becomes pinned at the top of the forum listings) here in FC4 it's important to get as many tips posted to make the thread useful to anyone seeking this sort of information.

Yes, I won't dispute that Art suggested that it was possible to unlock weapons in this fashion but it was on another thread that someone visiting the site might not ever find.  It's also true that PZ benefited from Art's suggestion so if PZ wants to fire off kudos in Art's direction that would be great.

I was not ignoring Art's input rather I was attempting to encourage (from all site members) an influx of material on this thread so that it could become growing healthy and highly useful.

I had been a long time Lurker here at OWG brought in by D_B's FC2 maps and stayed for the easy going group's atmosphere.  It was an unanswered question that one of the members had asked that I happened know the answer to that brought me out of the shadows and made me register to be able to reply.  I like the thought that a Tips and Tricks thread for FC4 might do the same for someone else.

This might be the wrong place to put all this off topic dialog and I'm perfectly willing to remove this post (to clean things up for appearances) once we are all on the same page and pushing this thread's topic into becoming a thread of utility worth coming back to revisit by all of us and non-member visitors to see if new help or ideas have been posted.  Who knows it may also be the draw to pull in more of the right caliber members.   :)

Spoken like a true moderator, mandru  :-X

I know the core of OWG membership never means any disrespect, nor does anyone want to take away any credit from others.  I can only speak for myself when I say that I simply forget consciously what I might retain subconsciously  :-()

+1 for AB though, because he was the first to post about it  :-X

Sorry Mandru, for arguing the contribution of some, by pointing at those of others. I don't mean to do that. I just wanted to point at the fact that Art had posted the tip earlier, because it seemed as if it was forgotten. Maybe a PM should've been more appropriate to do that :-D

Edit: Thinking twice I may not have chosen the right words to point out what I found of importance, so I edited my other post. Hope that's better :)

It's Ok Binnatics, no hard feelings.

I didn't feel like you were correcting or arguing with me and I knew that everything you'd said was true.  :)

I'm proud of you gents - the resolution of even insignificant disputes is at the heart of what OWG stands for - a collection of mature gamers interested n only furthering their camaraderie  :-X

Thanks for the kudos, chaps :)

And I am proud to be a member of this fine community :-X

Quote from: fragger on January 17, 2015, 07:24:51 AM
When you're in a Trading screen, choose Maps and buy South Kyrat > Items. This will reveal locations to all the serial-killer Masks, Propaganda Posters, Mohan Ghale's Journals and Lost Letters (all these award bonus XPs when found) and Mani Wheels (which award Karma points).

Slight correction needs to be made here: the regional "- Items" maps will not reveal Masks. To see the locations of those, you need to buy the "- Masks" map for each region :)

Nice tips, I had forgotten the attack truck one to get a rider on the gun, nice to be reminded of that.

As for the Shangri-La missions, I'm kind of enjoying them. Sure, they may be a bit linear, and the landscape is total fantasy, but it's a nice change of pace from the regular stuff you get up to, and much better than the drugged out missions in FC3. The extent of melee combat may be a turn off if a player prefers the more weapon based stuff, so chalk that up to personal preference.

As for elephants vs. rhinos, I tried this on the one mission with Hurk where you ride the elephant out of the camp. At the top of the road, a rhino was actually helping us with the army guys who came by and made the mission much easier. Once that was all done, I tried attacking the rhino with the elephant and it didn't seem to do anything, but I didn't try too hard either. Requires more testing.

thanks for the kudos and a +1 :-X to Binnatics for his indisputable sense of justice (for "defending me") :)

Hmm I think I detect Team-Play loyalty.  ;)

 :)

out of loyalty, I can neither deny nor confirm any of that. :-()

Explosive arrows are a quick and relatively easy way to bring down choppers. One hit will nearly always do it (on Easy mode, anyway) and it saves you having to use up a weapon slot carrying something like an RPG or grenade launcher to deal with them - provided you have the recurved bow in your loadout, of course.

But then, ever since FC3 I've ALWAYS included a recurved bow with Marksman sight in my loadout. It's good for silent kills, distracting enemies, blowing things up, starting fires, and hunting smaller animals. It's like having several different weapons in one, and the normal arrows are recoverable. Plus, in FC4 if you kill an animal with arrows it counts as a "clean" kill and you get two skins from a single animal.

while building up your karma, avoid killing civilians because they count as minus fifty karma points each. I found out when I tried a blind long distance shot with a mortar, for fun, that you might still hit something or someone you didn't know was there..

Once you've reached karma level 8 (max) it will stay level 8 and that means you may henceforth kill civvies without any karma retaliation.  >:D

fragger mentioned baits, I would like you to add your buddies to the mix that you can send to assist you in fights. Use your camera to scout a post and you'll see that it shows that option if you "aim" at spots they will try to reach once you sent them. I only got one guy each time I tried but he was tough as nails and went right smack in the middle of the outpost or fortress. That will of course attract every merc's attention and you can pick cherries from afar with your silenced sniper or recurve bow. Apparently you can only send guys twice within a short amount of time while you're at it until the next time you do something like that there will be some type of cool down time.

Excellent tips +1 each  :-X

cheers  :)

Thanks PZ :) +1 from me Art, very nice tips :-X

thank you, fragger  :)

by the way, I meant "guns for hire" but didn't remember what they were called.

Maybe "buddies" would be a better name than "guns for hire".  I recall that our FC2 buddies would also cry and whine, begging for syrettes at the slightest discomfort.

"Guns for hire" somehow seems to be an undeserving attempt at a tough guy image when you think of what these buddies really do.

In fact, the phrase is entirely misleading because you can only have one at a time.  At best, they should be called "gun for hire"

how about "bait buddies"  -- you toss them, and mercs come running to eat them :-()

 :laugh: I like it!

Schrodinger's Kyrats?

Assign him a spot to get to and he becomes a wave event as to whether or not he exists when the dust settles.  ^-^

that was pretty darn funny, mandru  :laugh: +1 :-X

I recently posted about how I spared Min at the end of the game and we went to a cutscene where I placed Ajay's mom's ashes in a shrine. When I came back out, Min was leaving in a chopper. I downed the chopper with an explosive arrow and saw Min's body fall out. After the credits, I went back into the game and made my way up to Min's palace, but I couldn't find his body.

Well, I went back up there again, and this time I found him. The chopper and the body were next to the road not far from the palace. Apparently I just didn't notice it along the way the first time because I didn't expect to find it there. It appears that whenever you spare Min in the end game but then shoot down his chopper, he and the chopper always end up here. The location, which is to the left of the road near the palace, was obviously a set-piece. I looted Min's body and got his gold pen - the same one he stabbed that poor sap in the neck with at the beginning.:

[smg id=7694 align=center width=600]

[smg id=7695 align=center width=600]

You can sell the gold pen - for a cool 300,000 Rupees 8) And here's the cool part - you can do this over and over again. Every time you make your way to Min's body, you can loot him again, and get the gold pen again. You can then sell it for another 300,000 Rupees. I did this several times and filled my wallet up real quick. If you want a lot of money relatively quickly, it's worth the effort. I say "relatively" because it takes time to get up there. Here's why: To get to Min's palace, you need to make your way through the Royal Fortress until you reach the road gate at the northern end. It will be closed, but you can blow a hole in it with a C4 charge. Unfortunately, the hole won't be big enough to let a vehicle through, so you'll have to trot up to the Palace on foot, and it's a bit of a ways. I tried flying over the Fortress with a gryo but the game wouldn't let me do it.

So if you run short of cash during your post-game free-roam, you'll know where there's a plentiful source. If you do shoot Min at the table during the end game, you will find his body on the floor next to the table if you go to the Palace later. I don't know whether you can loot him there as well, I didn't think to try it the first time around :D But if you want to see the wrecked chopper scene, don't shoot Min at the table. And remember to equip some sort of chopper-downing weapon before you do the Royal Fortress mission, so you can shoot down Min's chopper later after the ashes scene. There is no shop in the Royal Fortress, and there is no gap between that mission and the one to decide Min's fate at the Palace. Once you're off to do the Royal Fortress mission, you'll be locked in until the end game.

Thanks fragger for confirming the gold pen tip  :) However, what I didn't know was that you can loot it over and over again, +1 :-X :)

Spoiler

Before Binnatics gets into trouble again and before we are being "accused" of team-play loyalty ( :-() ) for mentioning and acknowledging the following, I'll post it myself fist, this time. :-D

Quote from: Art Blade on January 02, 2015, 11:46:52 AM
There is free-roam after the story.

fragger:

in reply to your spoiler questions

I chose to play Amita's missions only and actually shot Sabal. I had to defend the town, yes. No, I didn't see that Amita forced kids. And my ending: I had no choice. I waited but the game fired the pistol for me at Min.

And something you may not know

special secret special ending

If you let Min live and he takes the chopper, shoot the chopper down ("the king is dead" will pop up). When you can, go to the crash site and pick over Min's body to retrieve some 300k+ cash and his golden pen (worth 300k+)  :-D

Fist yourself... post it...  ????

Spoiler

:-() :-() :-()

Nice one, fragger +1  :-X

I really appreciate the spoilers, chaps - I know it sounds strange, but knowing what is up ahead makes the game much more enjoyable for me, especially if the knowledge is about cool things you can do in the game if you know to do them.

C-4 makes short w@&k of a rhino.  It also turns their hides into rubbish that's not worth skinning off them.

And I was under the impression that I'd collected enough rhino hides to make a couple crafting upgrades at the same time before I figured that little detail out.  :D

 :-D too bad mandru because the moment you're skinning it you're being told, already  ^-^ By the way, it goes for most weapons. Don't try stuff like the buzzsaw on an animal you want a proper skin of. :-()

Tip: headshots keep the skin intact

Thanks guys :)

I went and looted Min once again, and discovered that you get more than just his gold pen. You also get a Lapel Pin which is worth even more than the pen: 350,000 Rupees. You'll also score a good amount of cash, not sure how much exactly (my wallet maxed out). So every time you loot Min's body you'll receive well over 650,000 Rupees :-X

 :-D

there will be a time when you don't know anymore what to do with that much money. :-()

Believe me guys, ammo and bullet proof vests are expensive, before an attempt to liberate a post my wallet would contain about 1,3 million,
after the fight I try to search each and every body for loot, and if animals are killed during the fight I would skin them as well.
When I sell all loot and stocked up my wallet is down to about 950 thousand.
Just getting your vest to 100% can drain your wallet at an alarming rate.
So my advise is to upgrade your wallet ASAP.

In the Prologue right after you have cleared the outpost where the troops are holding the clouded leopard (right before you make the climb up the rope) you will encounter a small group of very skittish goats.  You will want to collect the hides of every one of them.  They (4 pelts) are the first upgrade adding a side arm to your holster.  Rushing through I only collected 3 of them and found they were not reintroduced into the game until after you recapture the outpost seized by the troops.

When reintroduced they will be there near that outpost.  ::)

D_B had commented that he'd spent a lot of time searching for something like a donkey only to discover it turned out to be these goats.  After you've cleared the first tower even the map hints for where to hunt for specific animals is misleading.  The map shows a hunting ground for the goats but when you get there you'll find nothing but eagles and badgers.  :D

There is a 30 point UPlay bonus handgun with stats that rival the the AK-47s that would have been very handy addition to my load out through the first chapter if I'd been just a bit more meticulous in making my hide collections instead of sensing the finish line and bolting on ahead.

Yeah those goats.... I walked past so many thinking I needed a donkey type thing.

A bait ball will also attract Devil Fish.  I used the bow to fill my needed skins for them but they take two hits to kill and invariably will dash away after the first hit.  I found that it was helpful to (after tossing a bait) tag them with a snipe rifle from an elevated position (like a rock ledge) on the bank before letting the first arrow fly.  That way I could track it to give pursuit in a boat and deliver the finishing shot.

Rule of thumb:  They are widely dispersed and hard to spot in a large body of water while you are searching for them but the instant you enter the water to gather a skin or dive for a collectable object they are there waiting for you in what seems like a swarm.  ::)

Yeah, worse than piranhas  ???? I think they're programmed to just appear near you whenever you take a dip.

Quote from: mandru on January 26, 2015, 11:34:00 AM
A bait ball will also attract Devil Fish.  I used the bow to fill my needed skins for them but they take two hits to kill and invariably will dash away after the first hit.  I found that it was helpful to (after tossing a bait) tag them with a snipe rifle from an elevated position (like a rock ledge) on the bank before letting the first arrow fly.  That way I could track it to give pursuit in a boat and deliver the finishing shot.

Rule of thumb:  They are widely dispersed and hard to spot in a large body of water while you are searching for them but the instant you enter the water to gather a skin or dive for a collectable object they are there waiting for you in what seems like a swarm.  ::)

I hunt for them with a mortar  :angel:

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z65CBnLUl14#ws

 :laugh: :-X

I would suspect their skins would be worth as much for crafting as the rhinos I bagged with C-4.  ;)

As long as I've made an effort to I keep a tree or the awning of a building over my head or when I've heard an eagle cry moved to cover I've never been attacked by one of them.


A quote from "Weird Al" Yankovic's movie UHF:  "Badgers, badgers?  We don't need no stinkin Badgers!"

Spoiler

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx6TBrfCW54 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx6TBrfCW54#ws)

Quote from: mandru on January 26, 2015, 02:37:25 PM
I would suspect their skins would be worth as much for crafting as the rhinos I bagged with C-4.  ;)

I think it was a headshot :-()

 :laugh:

I can kill those fish with just one arrow. Just don't let the arrow "drop" into the water, you need to bloody PULL all the way back before you let go, and don't be too far away from the fish so the power is still sufficient when the arrow hits and then it will kill. :)

Found something interesting. My game is long over story-wise and I've been traipsing around liberating outposts and doing all the side missions I passed over to get the story done quickly. I've been free-roaming for about the past week, then today I happened to go to Tirtha to do a hunting mission. Lo and behold - a post-game cutscene with Amita began. I had done Amita's missions solely throughout the game, bumped off Sabal, and Min was long dead. There was one last cut scene at the end of the game with Yogi and Reggie, then the game was officially over and I was into free-roam mode. But after all this time, when I went to Tirtha this scene unfolded:

END OF STORY DETAILS ARE IN HERE

Amita is rounding up civvies to force them into joining the Golden Path. Some are protesting and pleading with her, but she threatens to have them shot if they won't join. Ajay argues with her but she is very cold and ruthless. At the end of the scene when I had control again, she was walking away from me - so I let her have it in the back. The Golden Path guys she was with immediately turned on me.

I don't know if something similar happens if you do only Sabal's missions, but I'd say something would. Whether you have to go to Tirtha for a final post-game cutscene with him or some other location I don't know.

That's cool, fragger; the game appears to have the potential for more hidden gems  :-X

Yep, it is cool, sort of like a hidden epilogue. Maybe if I hadn't done what I said I did in the spoiler, there might have been some sort of continuation elsewhere, but I doubt it - I think it was a final one-off Easter egg kind of thing.

Quote from: fragger on January 27, 2015, 07:56:26 AM
... I think it was a final one-off Easter egg kind of thing.

I tend to agree - Ubi has the habit of leading you down a path of potential greatness in the game only to completely drop the ball on what might have been an epic winner.  I guess they just don't want to show up the other developers.

I'll have to find out whether it happens to me, too, fragger, as I too played exclusively the Amita line of the story.

However,

I have one question

What or who the F is Tirtha?  ???

Answer:

It's a town in the southern region, down near the SE corner, not far from the Sleeping Saints.

I'm doing mostly the Sabal missions, as I've watched a video series where they did mostly the Amita missions, and I can say one thing, doing Sabal's missions is the easier way to go, at least so far.

For instance, there's the heroin production facility mission, where if you take the Amita path, you have to defend the fields from the attacking troops. This can get hectic as you run around turning on the pumps and putting out fires. The Sabal version is to destroy them, and can be done from the gyro-copter with molotovs until the fields are burned and then you can land and burn the opium stockpiles.

Then there's the mission where you have to drive the fuel truck into the gates at the bridge, on the Amita path, you have to chase down the fuel truck first, and capture it, hoping it doesn't blow up in the meantime. Taking Sabal's side, you don't have to do that, it's already parked at the checkpoint for you, and you just take out a couple squads of army guys from across the river and walk up to the truck and drive off.

I haven't gotten farther than that, as I just broke into the north and currently occupied clearing things out before I go on missions again. But the videos I watched show you can fast track the north and only do two or three missions and you're done.

Oh and another tip for you, buying the garden upgrade at the Ghale homestead gets you a patch of all the plants needed to craft syringes. If they are like the plants elsewhere, they will respawn after you cut them and leave the area and return.

Quote from: Dweller_Benthos on January 28, 2015, 08:19:35 AM
... But the videos I watched show you can fast track the north and only do two or three missions and you're done.

Cool - do you know how to fast track north?

I found the same thing with the opium fields mission. Sabal's mish was way easier than Amita's.

A couple of other handy things to buy for the Ghale homestead are a trading cabinet, a buzzer and a free body armour. I think you initially have to buy a drinking fountain or something to make the armour available. You can fast travel to the homestead, and those things will be there whenever you need them.

Initially I was going to do another play through with Amita, but not now - I detest having to chase things and catch them before a timer runs out, or they fall off a cliff, etc.  >:((

Quote from: PZ on January 28, 2015, 01:42:28 PM
Cool - do you know how to fast track north?

I watched Generikb's videos and it seemed he did two or three missions in the north before the final confrontation, maybe an hour or two total in the north? He wasn't specifically trying to fast track or do a speed run, he just did pretty much only main missions.

Quote from: PZ on January 28, 2015, 02:14:23 PM
Initially I was going to do another play through with Amita, but not now - I detest having to chase things and catch them before a timer runs out, or they fall off a cliff, etc.  >:((

On the truck mission, if you fail to capture the truck, I think it will just end up at the checkpoint anyway, at least that's what I saw in the video.

Thanks, D_B, that's somewhat reassuring.  Funny thing is that I have been quite pessimistic about FC4 and almost did not purchase it, but have been pleasantly surprised by the small details that are an improvement over some of the other Ubi games.  I can't recall where, but in some when you fail a timed mission, you start completely from the beginning, which is what I hate most about timed events.

I think that was AC2

Quote from: Art Blade on January 29, 2015, 10:48:54 AM
I think that was AC2

That's what I had in mind, but was not sure - thanks.

I do recall some of those races where the guy with the feather in his hat was chasing, and you had to out run him - never did like those, and the similar ones in which you had to repeat the "mission" until you found just the right scripted path.

yep, I was thinking about those, too. They were so crap  :)

If you're riding an elephant, did you know you can ride him right across rivers and lakes? He'll swim across with you onboard.

I finally had an elephant-back one-on-one with a rhino. The rhino lost, but it took a lot of chasing and trunk-bashing :-()

I also found out that if you leave a hovercraft on water, it'll sink and you can't get it back.

yep, elephants are versatile :) As opposed to hovercrafts; you can almost only go straight.

A hovercraft that sinks...that is really weird ????

One side amusement to collecting the raging rhino skin from Karkadann in the Fashion mission is the big truck that is right there in that area before going out onto the bridge and triggering his charge that leads to the death of everyone else standing around.

Tactic to take down Karkadann

Karkadann is the embodiment of the word monster and carries the signs of a long running battle to take him down.  Across the road from the big truck is a nicely placed rock that once you're safely atop it allows you to use the required shotgun to bring Karkadann down.  You get a few shots off on him and he'll dash off out of range for a bit but holding a grudge he will come rushing back in straight at you.  Time your shots and conserve your ammo for facial hits when he comes at you (yeah sure, a parting shot in the rump as he huffs off is fun and fair game  ;) ) and he goes down in a time consuming fashion (but yes) fairly easily and safely.

The amusement begins when you've got the skin and turn your attention to that big truck.  You'll probably need to push it back onto its wheels and repairs will almost certainly be needed.  Because the flatbed or possibly cargo box of the truck has been torn off it has acceleration and handling that I would almost call frisky.  8)

I spent almost an hour and a half driving this rig around running over every animal that stepped out into the road (including troops) and unlocking undiscovered locations marked with question marks along with the occasional stop for previously unmarked but revealed by proximity Mask and Propaganda posters.  At one point one of the Golden Path 50 cal ATs swung over onto my side of the road and hit me head on and there wasn't even a jolt comparable to hitting a chicken with any other vehicle.  A bit down the road I pulled over to administer repairs to any damage from the collision but the applying the torch showed that no damage at all had been accrued to the truck.

After a while I knew I needed to get back on game track and captured an outpost knowing that there would be one mission or another unlocked that would require me to let go of that ugly yet powerful beast of a truck which I'd affectionately come to think of as Rhino.

In FC2 we could hang onto a vehicle as long as we didn't hop into and drive a different one but that's simply not the case in FC4.

A bit unfortunate that. :(

yes, it is a pity. However, nice story :)

What I neglected to say about the collision I mentioned between the AT and my big old truck was that the AT was swept off the road like I was driving through a pile of fresh raked leaves.  >:D

Nicely done  :-X

heh heh, mandru  :-D

Quote from: mandru on February 01, 2015, 03:28:06 PM
After a while I knew I needed to get back on game track and captured an outpost knowing that there would be one mission or another unlocked that would require me to let go of that ugly yet powerful beast of a truck which I'd affectionately come to think of as Rhino.

Love the story mandru    :laugh:

Ok, so now that truck is officially named "Rhino"    :-D 8)

 ;D

By aiming your weapon at an elephant you can determine the alignment of the rage it is feeling when you have sent it in to cause general havoc and knock the crap out of the Min's troops.

If the reticle goes Red stay away or the elephant will attack you as well.

If the reticle is Blue it has no ill will towards you but it's probably best to keep some distance as I would assume it is still possible to be injured from flying debris, thrown enemies, explosives being triggered etc... .  In this condition (Blue reticle) if the elephant calms while there is still another part of the area that you are attacking in need of some special bestial destructive talent, you can remount and redirect the elephant's focus against the enemy.

Nice detail  :-X

Just have to hope no one nudges your trigger finger when scoping the elephant  :-()

heh, reminds me of Unity. "Do you see that guy over there? Hold on, I'll mark him for you.. oh crap. I accidentally shot him." :laugh:

 :-D @ Art


Shangri-la, love it or hate it?

The color scheme at first was shocking but when it settled on me (my realization) that it is a rendering of an other worldly experience I appreciate the consistency of tone that has been present in its development.  It is a paradise world that's being tinged by an intrusive evil.

I know several of you have expressed a distaste for these missions.  I'll agree they are not exactly the style of play that you have purchased this game for but personally while being apprehensive of these missions (because of the tone of those comments) I have found the first two missions to be very enjoyable and I'm looking forward to the third.

(Side note: One of the bodies of water I was admiring was absolutely swarming with...  What else but demonfish.  They say that a player can't be injured by a fall in Shangri-la but I wasn't willing to test that theory in that situation.  :laugh: )

Yes, I suspect I'm going to hate the final boss because it will change the complete approach I've been using to own the earlier missions.

My first attempt went like this:  I rushed in and was massacred.

Personally, this tipped me off that there's no time limits .  I laid back kicking over to stealth play, using the bow only when necessary letting the tiger's expertise directed by my discretion carry the load and enjoyed each and every successful kill.  >:D

I am coming under the opinion that I would willingly give up every thrown weapon that FC4 has to offer in the real world (of the game) if there was any way to bring the spirit tiger back with me.  ^-^

The first thing to note is that when you or your tiger are injured health is restored by time not spent in conflict.  On occasion (for yourself) first aid (through Heal) may be necessary if you've been too injured by a demon.

While moving through through Shangri-la Watch your Tiger!  By going into invisible mode it is alerting you that there a enemy presence very near.

An eager, willing and very capable companion the tiger tries to anticipate your movement.  It proceeds you as you move through the landscape.  If you want the tiger to hang back a bit you can turn and look behind you at an area you have already cleared.  Soon the tiger will be there in your field of view giving you a moment to move forward towards your objective without the tiger stirring things up among the demons.  I find this practice after using the tiger (to make a distant kill) also keeps him closer to full potential strength should it encounter any additional previously unnoticed demons as it returns to you until you are ready to make the next measured strike.

Used as a stealth weapon setting the tiger against a lone demon who has strayed out of the direct view of its demonic companions will result in a quick clean take down with little or no damage to the tiger and the time spent as the tiger returns to you restores it full reserves for the next strike.  Sending the tiger into a mob of demons will result in it's loss of energy and temporary loss of the tiger's presence through a full recharge.  This also causes increased agitation among the demons which will result in them seeking further afield for you as the directive source of the intrusion.

The tiger at full energy can even take down one of the fire spraying demons unassisted.

When up against demons that are using bows your tiger will often have arrows stuck in it.  I don't know if that actually impairs the tiger's effectiveness as you send it on additional forays but it does make the tiger a source of additional arrows by collecting them for your quiver if it's not topped off.  If my quiver is full I have developed a habit of wasting as many arrows as needed (into a near by rock so that I don't give away my location) to clear the tiger of possible ill effect the arrows may have against it.

Not counting my first catastrophic attempt, by moving around carefully seeking the demons that have strayed away from the rest and using the tiger to the best effect I've cleared the first two levels firing probably less than five arrows directly at demons themselves and only twice in self defense at close proximity when targeted by those demon beasts that one of the demon types are able to conjure.



I've come across some comments where the tiger has turned on a player attacking them.  It makes me wonder if the tiger also has the ally/enemy  distinction ability I mentioned in the elephants tip just above.  I'm not going to shag an arrow into my feline friend to explore this line of conjecture any further.

Nice, mandru :-X

I do admit, the Shangri-La missions grew on me a little, although I'm still not a huge fan. They are quite innovative and imaginative, I will give the devs that. I still haven't progressed beyond doing two of them though, just enough to ring the bells and unlock the breathing skill. I may take them all on for this next go-around.

I do like that slow-mo effect when you aim the bow and draw, that's kinda cool 8)

mandru, +1 :-X for that excellent post. :)

I remember my first try and how my gaming developed. I too grew kind of fond of the different type of experience which I didn't think I might, having read about some dreadful experiences of others. I'm still not a huge fan of those missions but the ambiance is stunning. However, I played it with full cheats and that was what made it an OK experience for me.

I didn't mind the first mission with the tiger either - seemed like a fun pet.  However, I personally did not like the environment, and thought it detracted from the immersion I feel in the rest of the game.  I think I'll go Art's way and use cheats simply to get through the missions,

Spoiler

especially the one where your tiger turns on you

.

Even though not too bad, I still felt side tracked much the same as in the boss mission in FC3 - the one with the fire arrows, giant gargoyle, and evil little munchkins trying to kill you

It would have been nice if they had actually made the flying portions of the Shangri-la missions inspiring and fun instead of frustrating.

I had to invert my flight controls to limp through those portions.  :-\\

Another tip for the Shangri-La missions is to try to find the previous seekers, they are the guys who went before you and died in various nasty means, and are currently suspended in time. Find them and interact with them and you get an extra health slot, which might come in handy. I think there are three for each Shangri-La mission.

Quote from: mandru on February 03, 2015, 11:49:25 PM
It would have been nice if they had actually made the flying portions of the Shangri-la missions inspiring and fun instead of frustrating....

Unfortunately "frustrating" appears to be what the developers think gamers like - as if you keep with the frustrating activity long enough so when you finally complete it, you have a great sense of accomplishment.

Nice tip, D_B  :-X

yep, thanks, D_B -- I did get additional health slots but never knew why.  :-()

I discovered that although you can only put sidearms in the sidearms slot, you can put additional sidearms into any of the other slots. So if for example you want to carry a suppressed 6P9 for close-up stealth w@&k but still want to be able to fire grenades from your Buzzer, you can - put the M-79 grenade launcher in your sidearm slot for drive-and-shoot, and the 6P9 in another slot.

You can carry nothing but sidearms, four different ones, if you're so inclined.

Nice one, fragger  :-X

fragger, you just described the first two slots of my typical loadout.

I set Slot #2 (sidearms) to automatically pop up when shooting while driving.   But I'm not locked into the weapon in the #2 slot.  On the PC a 1-4 key tap will also call up any other side arms I've got equipped.

The first shotgun to unlock in the Signature group is a side arm, which I typically carry in slot #1 and the M-79 grenade launcher practically lives in slot #2.  When I'm driving and an enemy rams me head on with their vehicle it's too close of range to drop the M-79 on them.  I tap #1 to pull up the sidearm shotty and can often bag both the driver and gunner or a rear passenger with the first shot.  This works out good for me especially if I'm in a car or pick-up.  The shotgun does a whole lot less damage (to both of our vehicles) and makes it quicker to upgrade my ride to an AT.  I'll trade up to a better vehicle whenever possible.

For the point I'm at in the game (I just barely opened the bridge to the North) I find that I've allowed the silenced snipe rifle (Signature Predator) to take up permanent residency in slot #3 for those genuinely long shots and when I need serious oomph to head shot a heavy or if there's a troop far enough away from the rest of the group and out of line of site and hearing range of the others.

For slot #4 while I wish I was better with the recurve bow (forget head shots) handled with care I can almost always depend on it for ultra quiet one shot kills against most of Min's troops at mid through extended range.

Where I am playing at the Easy setting for the game I have found that the more difficult outposts and Fortresses (both with 3 alarms) will have one of the alarms malfunction and remove itself.  When I first come into the shaded active zone for my assault I'll hear a "Pop... Zzzt" and there will be an onscreen message saying something like "Alarm Deactivated".

I've never been blamed for the malfunction of the alarm as it arouses no suspicion if it's even noticed by the enemy.  They've never made a comment about it.

It wasn't until I approached Noore's fortress that I figured out there was a pattern behind this behavior and highly suspect that it's my difficulty setting affecting it.

Interesting, I never noticed that, but then again, the obvious often escapes me - just ask my wife

 :laugh: PZ

I haven't noticed that alarm thing either...

I've found that the disappearing body thing happens in FC4, just like it did in FC3 - snipe a bad guy from extreme range, turn you back for a second or two, then turn around again and presto, the body is gone, so there's no risk of the other baddies finding it. However, it doesn't always seem to w@&k. Sometimes simply turning away doesn't do it, I'll have to switch weapons or reload or something. And even then it doesn't always appear to w@&k. It's doesn't appear to be as reliable a glitch as it was in FC3 :-()

Btw, we need a handy term for the enemies in FC4. We can't really call them mercs because they're not mercenaries. How about rags (Royal Army Guys) or mugs (Min's Uniform Guys)? :-D

I came across troops (troop/trooper singular) somewhere and have been using that.  It's shorter than Min's Royal Army.  ;)


I had cleared the map of all Collectable Propaganda Posters but still had two outstanding.  First I went into the adjustments for the map and turned off everything that was blue or things like the places and captured outpost markers.  In short anything that could cover up the icon for posters.  Still there were no markers found after several detailed searches on the entire map.  :-(

I happened to cruise past one of the old Propaganda Centers I'd cleared quite a while ago located at  X:396.1 Y:601.0  and stopped for a walk through the area.  There in one of the buildings I found two boxes of posters that were flashing red.  Even though I stood next to the two boxes and moved away they failed to register on the map.

Dropping a C-4 charge between the boxes and moving back to a safe distance to discharge it removed those two boxes and completed that next to the last check list for me.  ^-^

How about calling those Bad Guys "BGs" [as in the Bee Gees, "staying alive.." (at least hoping to) >:D ]

This is a long post and I go into some fairly extended detail.  If you are not interested in the Shangri-La missions you might want to skip it but after a long fought final battle I thought that any helpful tips on this subject might be appreciated by anyone inclined to take them on.

I made it through all the Shangri-La missions and enjoyed all of them except the last one.  I'll put my gripes into the description of the final level.  ;)

I'll omit the tutorial screen In Game Tips and the fourth level's special companion (you get to w@&k that one out on your own  ^-^ ).


The best survival tactics I can offer follow.

The demons and their attacks you will encounter are:
basic demon (knife), Archer (some of their arrows are poison and will cloud your vision)
Beast Masters with their demon beasts (beast corpses explode if shot or even kicked  :-[ )
Wizards who shoot flame (I believe they are called that)

Then there's the final level Bird Beast Boss (among other names I've called him while in combat) which flaps around the field of combat conjuring the various demons and also strafing with fire.


On each level (except the last) take your time finding each of the three Seekers that had proceeded Kalinag(as mentioned I believe by D_B) to gain full health bars.  Besides the obvious benefits I found Kalinag's commentary at their discovery added back story and enriched the experience.  They are usually found in out of the way locations that are not under demonic assault so there is time to study the tableau of the frozen moment of their deaths.

If your health bar is down at all and you have a spare moment heal right away.  Kalinag has a disturbingly deadly habit of insisting on standing still while performing first aid and in seriously heated battle it is not uncommon to have stacked injuries.  Your health bar is not restored until all injuries are repaired.  Too often I encountered a situation where I had to slap out a fire, reset a broken finger or wrist and pull a poison arrow out of my arm (to clear my vision) standing stock still in one spot on my last health bar while continuing to be the pinata at a sugar craving kids party where they all have sticks and none of them are blindfolded.

Make full use of the tiger.  In the first four levels if it's killed there are no time requirements so there's no penalty for remaining under cover to allow it to respawn.

Keep an eye open for quivers of arrows and top off whenever possible.

Chain take-downs and Knife throw take-downs are fully functional in Shangri-La.  I found that it was often helpful when pressed so close from behind by a previously unnoticed demon that on those occasions I had to resort to a simple Knife take-down that if I twisted as killing the demon and hit the button for the the knife throw combo out of sheer luck I would also remove a second demon closing in on me.  In other words it doesn't hurt to get in the habit of pairing those two take-down button presses and because the demons appear in sets of pairs when spawned I found it will often help.

In early mission levels you will first encounter urns with a blue spirit flame coming up off them like a lamp which can be used as a weapon.  Shooting one of these urns especially when one of the demons are close to it will cause an explosion similar to the dead bodies of the conjured demon beasts when shot.  I don't believe the urns on the last level are lit (frankly I was too damn busy to make a clear accounting) but I recall them being scattered around on the ground and learned the hard way that shooting one of them to take out a demon when I was too close it injured me as well.


Into the last level.

This battle is particularly tough.  It takes place on a mostly flat plane with almost no cover so there's little chance for stealth.  Staying on top of your health is a must. Knife damage or a simple arrow hit can be repaired while running during the continuous scramble to stay alive that will be encountered here.  There's no limit on healing and first aid so healing simple injuries as they occur can be a literal life saver.

Keep a constant eye out for the randomly placed respawning quivers.  You will also on occasion recoup arrows you've killed demons with during your constant scrambling around.

Besides attack from the demons a death will result from falling off either the outside edge of the battle field or if you fall down the hole the chained Spirit Bell is suspended over in the center of the area.  While the raised lip surrounding the hole under the bell may look like a convenient vantage point to take a shot at the boss, trying to get out of the way of its return fire afterwards caused me more deaths than I care to count.

With the lack of any kind of heads up display or advancement notices I found the total lack of any kind of indication of exactly where you are throughout this battle particularly frustrating.  The bird beast's behavior is constant throughout the battle so don't look to it for clues to determine your progress.

The battle opens with basic demons (knives).  The ever present bird beast flies from place to place over the battle field pausing from time to time to either open it's mouth to scream followed by a series of targeting flame bursts or folding its wings across its face where upon emitting a burst of aural energy to conjure demons to the battle field.

Every time the bird beast pauses it is advisable to try to target its mouth with a volley of arrows should it open it.  Its mouth is the only vulnerable location on the boss but because it unpredictably alternates between a moment where you can injure it and calling for more demons always be ready to cancel your shot to conserve arrows should it become clear that a moment for you to attack will not arise.

Three successful strikes on the boss' open mouth will cause it to fall to the ground and you can direct the tiger to plunge into its mouth to do internal damage and give you an extra chance to get an open mouth shot.  If your tiger is temporarily out of service and awaiting respawn it will not be available to jump down the boss' throat and you will have wasted that opportunity as well as arrows.

It appears when the boss falls to the ground any demons present are removed from the battle field.  While directing the tiger to internally assault the boss and timing an extra shot at its mouth I was never interrupted by one of them.  The time freeze function of the bow and my focus on the boss kept me from looking around to see exactly what happened in those moments.

Edit: My most recent play through (using cheats) has shown the following to be incorrect.

My observations were flawed.  There are no check points.

Corrections are posted here: http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=3631.msg74338#msg74338 (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=3631.msg74338#msg74338)

It looks like Check points in the final level are reached if you can (with no personal deaths) successfully down the boss and guide the tiger's direct internal attack three times.

So conditions to determine Check Points reached would follow:

Entry level = basic demons (knives)
First check point = Archers present
Second check point = Beast Masters and beasts
Third check point = Wizards (flame shooting)
Fourth check point = ?

Each sequential check point will allow the boss to call any random mixture of the current demon listed as well as those already seen.  I don't believe I ever saw more than four demons (other than the addition of conjured beasts) on the battle field at any one time.  But I was on the Easy setting and it may be variable depending on the difficulty level.


As for that ? for the fourth check point...  To be honest it was so frantic and I died so many times in the two or so hours fighting my way through this final mission that I completely lost count (this was the easy level?).  I don't know if there was an additional check point before the final round and ultimate defeat of the boss.

That last one sounds even worse than I imagined, mandru  ???

I guess I won't be doing that one

I didn't do the last mission   8-X
On easy I got killed so many times I stopped counting, and I played on easy   ???
How it will be on hard I don't even want to know   :D

This sounds like the dumbest sequence in a game I have heard of.  I detest scrambling around trying to stay one step ahead of ridiculously resistant foes, and being armed with only a bow?  SERIOUSLY!  What kind of an idiot would ditch his weapon set to take on a monster armed with a bow.

It is just this kind of thing that made me so resistant to purchase the game in the first place, and it irritates me that the Ubidiots programmed sections that I will do my best to avoid.

Looks to me like they are trying to throw everything but the kitchen sink into a game to capture as many sales as possible.

I understand that the Shangri-La portion of FC4 isn't suited to everyone's taste.  And yes. I had a lot more fun compiling details and typing up the list of dealing with that portion of FC4 than I extracted from that frustratingly chaotic last level of those missions.

But then I spent a lot more time figuring how to kill the final boss on the old NES game Metroid.  I'm either becoming a better gamer or that last Shangri-La mission wasn't as bad as I made it out to be.  :-D

I'm a cheap old schlub who rarely runs out and spends 50 bucks on a game.  So when I do pick one up I try to milk every bit of gaming experience out of it possible.  It's my nature to take a game apart and consume it in its entirety.  I'm in post game trying to get as close as I can to 100% complete as possible without buying the extra DLC.

Because of being post game there's not really the access to concentrations of Min's troops so I spent two and a half hours last night riding an elephant around to meet the Tusker Achievement by killing 50 enemies but out of that time it only took me forty five minutes to realize that you can't just smash a truck load of the for a double or triple kill.  You've got to get them out of their vehicles or the kill doesn't count as an Elephant Kill.  :D

Beyond meeting that achievement I learned that other elephants will come out and present themselves to you as a fresh ride to take the place of the increasingly injured one you've been riding, also that the entire time I never experienced an eagle attack.  

Then I moved on to earn the achievement requiring 50 kills with a flame thrower.

Actually I'm finding I'm disliking leveling up my Arena rankings to gain the sole remaining locked Bushman assault rifle more than anything else I've encountered in the game.

In the Arena's Unending Rounds competition I died 3/4ths of the way through the 19th consecutive round where upon I earned 1000 points leaving me 1/2 way between  rank 4 and 5.  And that was even after fighting through bonus rounds facing the Fashion Mission's rare animals consisting of that White Tiger, the elephant Thick Skin and the bloody freaking rhino Karkadann.

Oh yeah, by the way you need to reach rank 10 to unlock the Bushman.  ???

Quote from: mandru on February 13, 2015, 09:42:08 AM
Oh yeah, by the way you need to reach rank 10 to unlock the Bushman.  ???

... or be an old cheater like I am - my son threw me one last night as we had a few minutes to free roam  >:D

Pretty slick weapon, but I still like going in low and slow with my 6P9

I admire your efforts in achieving all there is in the game, Mandru. I am usually like that as well. Hope you get your Bushman the proper way soon. Although I think the weapon isn't worth all the effort, it's nice to know that you earned it with blood and guts ;) :-X

I haven't bothered with the Arena past about level three, so I've never earned the Bushman (although Art gave it to me when we co-opped, but that was in during earlier playthrough). For a weapon that's really no tremendous shakes compared to the others in the arsenal, the time and effort required to earn it is pretty ludicrous. I would have thought something like the Buzzsaw would have been a more fitting trophy for all that Arena squabbling.

If I do ever decide to go for the Bushman, I think I'll go God mode for the Arena fights. Even then, it's still bloody time-consuming.

I'm like you mandru, I like to try and wring everything I can out of a game. Last playthrough I collected all posters, Death Masks, Journals and Lost Letters, as well as spinning all the Mani wheels and completing every side quest. The only things I left were the Arena, the last two Shangri-La missions and the rest of Reggie and Yogi's missions (after the first one) as these don't grab me much. Oh, and I left about 500 loot crates unopened :-()

Here's a tip for getting rid of the two guard dogs during whichever Brick Factory mission variant you do: throw a bait onto the road that surrounds the main building, near each dog. The dogs will go to the bait and start eating it, whereupon they'll get run over by those two jokers doing laps in the AT. Neither the guys in the truck nor the other human guards will react >:D

Sneaky bugger    :-D

 :-X :-D

 :laugh: :-X fragger

I guess I'm the odd man out (as usual  :-()) - I have never completed any game with all challenges/collectibles.

Even though I played through FC2 so many times I can not remember (at least a couple of times for every buddy), I never did collect all the diamonds even though I knew I'd see lots of great sights.

I do like that whether using stealth, openly lobbing explosives or employing some other loud weapon (gotta love that buzzsaw  >:D ) on the troopers for any of the missions as long as they don't make clear visual contact with you they can't set off the alarms so the mission will register as completed Undetected/No call for reinforcements and they won't start killing hostages or initiate the countdown timer during the bomb defusing missions.

It's also helpful that the discovery of a dead body sets off an AI response in a nearby trooper to walk over and stare at it first giving you a chance to stack opportunity kills.  :-D

Quote from: mandru on February 14, 2015, 10:51:20 AM
... giving you a chance to stack opportunity kills.  :-D

Reminds me of JRD using the Dragunov to wound FC2 mercs to draw in their friends  :laugh:

I just stumbled across a funny little stunt.  I had smoked a drive by group of Min's men with the buzzsaw and one them ended up under the vehicle.  I was trying to get close enough to him so that I could loot him without moving the vehicle and I spotted a new feature in FC4 I'd not seen before.

When a vehicle (other than a buzzer) is parked/stopped on a hill and you are crouched near the right or left corner of the bumper (it's best to stay on the uphill side of it) there will appear an action option of "Press E to release brake".  It will of course be a different action button if you are on a console.

It's sometimes a little touchy about showing that option and you might have to fidget around a little to make it show up so you can use it.  Once the brake has been released the vehicle does a commendable job (even if it's rolling backwards) of keeping to a straight line of decent down the incline.


Then it occurred to me.  :ideas

By positioning a vehicle with proper alignment above an outpost or somewhere Min's troops are gathered it could be loaded up with landmines and a C-4 charge for remote detonation if needed.

Then release the brake and send it on its merry way.  >:D

Very good one, mandru +1  :-X

Now we're getting in to some real sneaky action  >:D

yep, I found out about that option rather early in the game but haven't yet made good use of it. Nice idea, mandru  ^-^

Excellent tip mandru +1 :-X Must try.

Thanks guys.  :)

Once I get into a game I've gotta keep digging.  :-D

Haven't thought of the C-4 idea mandru, nice tip thanks +1  :-X

On one occasion after killing the driver of a supply truck I parked it on the edge of an embankment, released the handbrake to let it run down the embankment, the truck exploded when it hit the bottom, mission completed  ;D

My problem was that I did not know to use the handbrake when first starting the game, and when I left a vehicle, more often than not, it was gone when I returned  :laugh:

"Do I know where your car is? The only car I know of was totalled when crashing backwards into that china shop downhill, at the end of the road."

 :laugh: that would be my car!

 :-D

Oh I know that little trick all right!  ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWUh2qNq1dI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWUh2qNq1dI)

 :)

@ JRD's vid   :bow +1

One of the mercs see it coming and utters a curse under his breath right before the switch gets flipped.

I'm still chuckling over it.  :laugh:

There's a trick that was available in FC2 but absent (and for me at least was much missed) in FC3 and now it's been restored to the mechanics of the game in FC4.  :-X

When you are trying to get a clearer line of sight on the targets of an objective in the game it is sometimes difficult to get the view you need through trees between you and what you are trying to see.

In FC3 you could set fire to a tree but it would burn however all the limbs and leaves would just turn to char but not clear out of the way.  Now with FC4 as in FC2 leaves, twigs and all but the stoutest branches burn out of the way opening a clearer view beyond.

Min's troops do respond to the fire.  Of course they blame you for it but if you are able to maintain deep cover their running around trying to find the source of the danger with a now at least slightly less obscured view you have a better chance to tag all of them for when you are ready to begin you assault for real.

Ah!  I found it.  I thought  this belonged over here too and wanted to make sure fragger got the reference for discovering it.  :-X

Quote from: fragger on February 16, 2015, 04:15:34 AM
Nice read :)

I like the elephants. If you're not immediately attacking someone and thus aren't using your "trunk" key to butt them with, you can use the same key to make your elephant trumpet. If there's another elephant nearby, it will trumpet in reply and will come over to your mount. Once you're on the move, periodic trumpeting will keep the other elephant following your own, so that when you do come across bad guys they will have two cranky pachyderms to deal with instead of just one >:D

I wanted to try an elephant based attack on an outpost straddling a roadway.  They will typically have a fairly open layout and draw in every enemy on the ground as soon as a fuss arises.

I trumpeted up a companion drawing it along to near the targeted outpost where upon I paused and from elephant back sniped (breath control eliminates the animal's movements too  ;) ) a trooper as he crossed the road to draw attention.  I then immediately began the charge.  Shrieking "Kill the beast!" troopers started firing on the elephant I was riding and as the awareness meter for myself was starting to form I bailed and scurried into some nearby cover to break line of site.

Other than the one rooftop sniper that I was able to remove from my covered position the explosion of pachyderms overwhelmed the rest of the site.  No alarms and undetected.  :-()


Other than the fact that they can't scurry to a rooftop it occurs to me that Hurk's monkeys in C-4 vests have got nothing on a rampaging secondary elephant similarly wired for detonation via remote control.  >:D

Nice technique, mandru :-D And cheers :)

Quote from: PZ on February 14, 2015, 10:59:50 AM
Reminds me of JRD using the Dragunov to wound FC2 mercs to draw in their friends  :laugh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItDa6y9p6nE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItDa6y9p6nE) >:D >:D >:D :-D :-D :-D

Wow.  Make them chase was an aspect I'd completely overlooked.  ???

I usually just picked a secure spot and gunned them down as they came at me.  >:D

>:D

This is not a game play tip, just a precaution to avoid some irritating glitches when starting all over a new game (at least with the PC version). :)

Short version:
When You decide to start a new play through, You should delete Your local savagame files.

Long version:
I decided to start from "scratch" because I would like to play the alternative "20 min. finish". That was kinda fun, but there was (as You also found out) no free roaming after this "end".

So I made a new start and progressed to the first Kyriat Race to unlock one of the skills. Did the race within the time limit, but nothing unlocked, and it was not registered in the statistics either... Tried again, still nothing... I had to liberate another outpost and do another Kyriat Race before it got registered and the skill was unlocked. - OK, it's a glitch, I thought, but I'm not so keen on those races anyway, so I don't mind the faulty statistics... ????

Went on liberating outposts expecting Pagans Wraith to pop up somewhere, so I could get the heavy take-down skill. But no convoys popped up, and I progressed to the north hoping that a liberated outpost here would do the trick. No dice... :-(

- OK, something must have gone wrong when I started the new game, so I'll give it a new try. Started a new game, and the same glitches appeared again, also this time reaching the north with no convoys... >:((

So I resigned and searched Steams and UBIs forums to see if I could find the solution. I found that a lot of people having problems with the races, convoys and also the escort missions not working when they had a new play through. And the solution was to delete the local savagame files, as there is probably some of the info in those files that does not get reset when starting a new mission.

- S**t, I thought, remembering all the time I spent in the arena to get that rifle unlocked... :D (I just hate "arena" games...) But fortunately, the arena rank is not stored in the savegame files, so after a new clean start with the old savagame files deleted, my arena rank was still listed at the same level. :angel:

And this time the race unlocked the skill, and after liberating a couple of outpost the convoys started to pop up again. I have now finished off "the king" for the second time, and must also say I now know the south of Kyriat very well after 4 play troughs there... ;)


The savagame files is typically placed here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\savegames\-long_random_string-\856

:lamp: I suppose the 856 folder is random too, and if You have other Upay games they will have their own "856" folder. Check when the files (1.save, 1.save.upload, 2.save, 2.save.upload) or folders, is last altered, to find witch game they belong to.

:lamp: Also then make sure that Upay starts in off-line mode, and start a new game in off-line mode as well, so no previously on-line stored saves replaces the deleted ones.
When there have been a couple of off-line auto saves, one can go on-line again, to get the arena ranks. 8)

Thanks for the tip T.V.  :-X +1  Although this does not appear to be an issue on the PS4, I plan to purchase the PC version once modding becomes commonplace.

Excellent video GKID  :-X

If I just arrived on this planet and did not know anything about video games, I'd have placed FC2 above FC3 or 4 in realism.  Just looking at the environment, the interaction between player and the AI, and I'm hooked.

In fact, it was watching videos like that back in 2009 that got me back in to video gaming after I'd left being bored to death by the *yawning* lack of innovation in the genre.

I still to this day have not had the same sense of excitement when firing up a game.

OK, so I wrote a long article on Shangri-La earlier here in this thread (here http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=3631.msg73788#msg73788 (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=3631.msg73788#msg73788)) and I'm finding some of the details regarding the final battle in mission five is incorrect.

I replayed those missions with cheats set for GodMode="1" UnlimitedAmmo="1" IgnorePlayer="1" which worked fine to burn through the first four missions.

The first thing I learned was the  IgnorePlayer="1" cheat makes you invisible to the final boss in mission five and it will not register that you are successfully getting hits on it and it just spends a lot of time flapping around and only occasionally spawning demons.  I had to abandon mission, close out the game and remove that cheat condition to be able to proceed.

It turns out three hits in the mouth makes the monster bird crash to the ground then you direct the tiger to jump down it's throat to do internal damage.  When (on the ground) the tiger is inside the monster you have to score one hit on its open mouth each time.

If you can do that quickly with no deaths that will complete the battle and you won't encounter the demons that spout fire.

It appears that the observations from my first attempt at this mission were flawed.  I had so many deaths that I either wasn't getting my three consecutive ground events or possibly the hit on the monster's mouth while on the ground.

Thanks for the update mandru. Though I'll probably never need to use the info - I can't see myself persevering with Shangri-La enough to ever reach level 5 :-()

And thanks T.V. for the info :-X

You may not want to liberate any of the Fortresses too quickly.   ????

In the FC4 skill tree one of the skills I most look forward to acquiring is the "Heavy Takedown" unfortunately I stumbled across how to really foul things up and never allow it to become available.  ???

Once the Heavy Takedown becomes available for unlock (by the prior skill tree unlocks) the only requirement is to complete just 1 Pagan's Wrath mission.  That's the three trucks broadcasting propaganda moving together as a caravan.  It's one of the easiest side activities in the game to complete as they typically drive slowly while following a path that makes a complete circuit.  You just need to figure out their route, get ahead of them and smoke 'em as they approach.

However unlocking Min's Fortress or one of his Generals fortresses stops all attacks against your captured outposts in that region except for those from random motor and foot patrols.  The fortresses of 'De Pleur and Noore cover the middle section of the map and Yuma and Min's cover the area North of King's Bridge.

Unfortunately I learned the hard way that Pagan's Wrath missions are considered to be a form of attack.

After I get access to the central part of the map (which includes being able to fly Buzzers) I first clear the outpost that unlocks the Fashion missions and from then on I go after every bell tower as soon as they become available.  That allows me to clear the map up but more importantly gain access to the Buzzsaw as soon as possible.  I've found that using buzzers is the quickest way to accomplish that.

But in my current play through after an accident where my buzzer became irretrievably wedged into the top of a  bell tower and not knowing where the closest replacement for it was I captured the two central map fortresses to have instant and easy access to those buzzers in the event of future aviation mishaps.  In the long run it turned out to be a poor choice.

With the capture of your second or third outpost the Pagan's Wrath missions are introduced into the game but because I had captured the regional fortresses they never became available.  Then to complicate matters it wasn't until after I'd captured Yuma's fortress that I noticed that I wasn't getting access to the Heavy Takedown and figured out how I'd bollixed it up.  :D

Not having the Heavy Takedown unlocked means that the Death From Above move is missing from your skill set against them too.  This not only affects dealing with Heavies but also against the demons that spout fire in the Shangri-La missions.

I've captured all of the outposts now and while I've intentionally left Min's fortress unmolested I'm not having luck spawning a Pagan's Wrath event even though I've spent a lot of time in that region doing various odd side missions, collecting the masks, spinning mani wheels, hanging about and so on.

It appears that I'm too far beyond some critical threshold for that to become available this time as I play on through.  :-\\

Good to know, mandru  :-X

I have a few skills that I cannot get - they appear to be available, but when I purchase them using a skill point, they never become active although my total number of skill points decrements.  I do not know why this is happening.

Thanks for the tip, mandru :)

PZ, sounds like what's happening with your skills is something akin to what mandru reported. Maybe by progressing too far in some area, those skills, while still purchasable, just haven't had some essential criteria met to allow them to operate. I haven't had anything like that happen so I don't know what you would have to do to get them working.

Could you tell us which skills are affected? Maybe between us all we can nut it out.

It appears that the devs may not have taken all possible contingencies into account...

I do know there are some of the Elephant skills you need to purchase a few of before they become available, everytime you purchase one a number appears in the middle indicating how many you have.

I'll have to check for the numbers - did not notice anything.  I can't recall exactly which skill, but they are the far right, the bottom 3-4 or so on the elephant side.

I've finished the game by killing Min, but there are plenty of side things that I have not completed - none of the races, and few of anything else that does not appear to be open world in nature.

[smg id=7761 type=preview align=center caption="FarCry4 cs7"]
This one and the one below it PZ, It indicates you need to keep learning this skill until you have ten

Thanks, nex, that must be it  :-X

I've tried to purchase at least a couple of them several times thinking there was something wrong with the game, but now I'll look closer at the numbers.

Mandru, this sounds like the savegame glitch I experienced... :(
Did You delete the savegame files before this play through?

Quote from: T.V. on March 18, 2015, 10:40:05 AM

Did You delete the savegame files before this play through?

Savegame files?  I'm not sure where I would find those.  So far I've only used Notepad++ to apply cheat variables and would be seriously concerned about digging too deep into and altering other system files.

Quote from: mandru on March 18, 2015, 03:08:00 PM
Savegame files?  I'm not sure where I would find those.

I posted the path where these files typically are put earlier in this topic:

Quote from: T.V. on March 07, 2015, 07:07:01 AM
The savagame files is typically placed here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\savegames\-long_random_string-\856

:lamp: I suppose the 856 folder is random too, and if You have other Upay games they will have their own "856" folder. Check when the files (1.save, 1.save.upload, 2.save, 2.save.upload) or folders, is last altered, to find witch game they belong to.

Of course, do not delete these files unless You plan to make a new start "from scratch"!
(You'll keep Your arena rank, thoug). :angel:

Thanks T.V..  :)

Last night I tried starting a new game and this time I didn't attack the fortresses.  Not even a little.

Once I broke through into middle part of the map and gained access to the buzzer I first went around and unlocked all the bell towers.

After that I went after the outpost that unlocks the Fashion missions and then the Tea Terraces outpost with all of the poppy fields.  Having completed the side missions unlocked with those two outposts and while I was on my way to unlock the third outpost the Pagan's Wrath convoys started up right about where I expected they should.

I've now had four or five of the Pagan's Wrath missions occur so it does seem (at least in my situation) it was my capturing the fortresses before any of the outposts that may have played a part in preventing the convoys from occurring my last time through the game.

I'm doing almost exactly what mandru is busy with now, except, I have killed all the big hats including Pagan, Sabal and Amita, no Pagan's Wrath missions have occurred, and yes, I deleted the savegame files   :D

I am SO looking forward to the first mods that open everything from the start of the game  For me it would be much more true to a real open world

I had an interesting go around with Fashion mission where you take down the rhino Karkadan using a shotgun.

Disclaimer: Your experiences may vary!  ;)

I'd selected the double barrel shotgun that's found in the Sidearms menu to march into battle.  I like that sawed off shotty as it has the ability to fire off a doubly potent volley every two seconds.  While it's true that I can't unleash five shots in as many seconds the trade off that I never hit one of those frustrating moments where I'm tied up for twelve or thirteen seconds frantically fumbling with shells for a reload more than balances out the slower fire rate for me.

I'd hopped into a truck and was making my way from the outpost to the check in point to launch the event but en-route there was an elephant standing at the roadside.  That was where I had a  :lamp:  moment.

I recalled an account where someone had posted (working with my spotty memory, I believe it was fragger) that they'd used an elephant to hunt the rare dhole for another fashion mission and I said to myself "Sure, why not?".

It is just a game and we get to do replays when we get smeared trying something stupid.  Right?  :-D

I ditched the truck, hopped onto Ellie (my pet name for whichever one of them I happen to be riding) and discovered that by riding her directly over the check-in point that I didn't even need to dismount to trigger my encounter with Karkadan.

I pushed through the the bystanders and upon reaching the mouth of the bridge my ele(phant)vated position gave me (for the first time) an excellent view of the mayhem out in the middle of the span.  I have to say that other than the fact that Karkadan is hell bent on stomping you into paste and painting his toenails with your blood he really is a marvelous piece of w@&k.  I give full kudos to the designers and developers who got him into the game.

And then he came at me.

There were two of the patrol trucks between him and my mount.  He hit the first truck and it went sideways in the road keeping its wheels under it.  That truck then was driven into the second truck which also went sideways in the road but under the force behind it was still slammed forward and right up against the elephant I was sitting on.

There was a moment of disorientation from the impact but good 'ole Ellie stabilized and with just a bit of a nudge forward from me absorbed all of Karkadan's momentum.

The two trucks completely corked the mouth of the bridge being pinned in place between the opposing masses (of first) all that stunned malevolence at being balked glaring up at me and (secondly) my elephant, determinedly holding her ground.   Two shots and Karkadan went down.

It was almost anticlimactic that it was over that quickly but then again "Man! What a show."  :-X

Now, that's a true open world experience  :-X

I did that one earlier today, but reading mandru's story make me want to do it all over again  :-D
And that's what I miss the most about FC2    :-(

Same here, nex - I have not played any game of 2009 vintage (for me) more than FC2

Great story mandru, and a novel approach for that mish :-X

I think it was Art who did the dhole hunt on elephant-back. I did actually kill an ordinary rhino using an elephant, but it involved a lengthy process of chase the rhino, trunk-thump him, chase him some more, thump him some more, etc. I never thought to try the elephant method on old Kark :-()

 :)

Well then.  Art gets the blame.

Er... I mean credit.  ;)

hehe :-()

As you unlock bell towers there are supply truck escort and supply drop missions that will spawn near them.

If you save those missions (that become available from liberating the bell towers) for later in the game they can continue to be a good resource where it's easy to find buzzers which can grabbed and used elsewhere for other purposes.  ;)

Quote from: mandru on March 25, 2015, 11:15:45 AM
If you save those missions (that become available from liberating the bell towers) for later in the game they can continue to be a good resource where it's easy to find buzzers which can grabbed and used elsewhere for other purposes.  ;)

Good to know - have not done many of those

 :-X

It's my fifth time through the game and I still get surprised.  I was in either the first or second Shangri-La mission and one of the decorative bronze statues (that still had a head) swiveled its gaze and looked directly at me.  :o

I was approaching from the statue from its left side and it turned its head almost a full 90 degrees to where I was.

Mrs mandru happened to be looking over my shoulder at that moment because I was talking to her about something else so she saw it too.  She thought it was really creepy.  I'm inclined to agree.

It was only for a moment before it turned forward again and despite my attempts to re-trigger that effect I wasn't able to make it repeat that action.  Now I'm wondering how many of the artifacts scattered around in those missions exhibit that type of behavior and I've simply been too busy looking for the next demon to smear to notice.

Funny you mention that. I know the statue you mean and on my last playthrough I thought, "I could have sworn that head was looking the other way a minute ago..." It's in the first Shangri-La mission, at the base of the steps that lead to the giant bell-holding statue. Which also rotates each time you spin up one of the other bell-things, but I'm sure we've all seen that.

This time I kept my eye on that statue and indeed it turned its head to look at me when I approached it. Only this time I went a different way and approached it from its right, but it still turned its head towards me. It is indeed a bit creepy! It only appears to do it once per game however, so if you miss it you miss it.

Too bad we don't have a video - sounds like an element of a horror movie

I may just replay the game enough to see that, sounds cool! As always, I keep Shadowplay running on a loop to catch anything that might happen.

It went by so fast that it wasn't really a major element of the game but it still was a surprise almost akin to tripping over an Easter Egg.

As near as I can recall fragger I believe it was the same statue you mentioned at the foot of the stairs facing up towards the larger statue holding the bell.  :-X

The Camera function when used in Shangri-La accesses an ornate zooming telescope.

It's not mentioned in the appropriate on screen game tutorials where it might prove to be useful so I'm adding it here. 

One can get the Z93 sniper rifle quite early in the game.
With the proper attachments it's even more useful than the Predator. ;)

It's widely accessible in the north, but in the south I've just found it in one location:
One (or two) of the soldiers guarding the most north tower in the south area, NW of The Kings Bridge, are equipped with the Z93 (and the others got P416, I think).
So I'm always making this tower "first priority" when the south opens up.  >:D

Nice tip, T.V.  :-X I love that rifle - +1

That's good to know.  Thanks T.V..  :-X

Great tip, T.V. :-X +1

I've seen an unconfirmed tip that when you get past the King's Bridge and you're working bell towers (getting the map revealed) one or two of the Northern most bell towers are staffed with snipers who are carrying AS50.  I believe it's typically not made available in the shops until after you clear Min's fortress.  That's so late in the game that all of the AS50's functionality being unlocked for post-game free roam seems pretty anticlimactic.

I was so anxious to get my hands on one of my favorites the Buzzsaw (rewarded by clearing all the bell towers) I completely forgot to check if this was true or not.  Unfortunately I used a buzzer and blitzed all the troopers from the air, scorched off any propaganda posters with a grenade launcher and only touched down at the top level of the towers to hijack the radio signals before flitting of to seize the next tower.

This may be true, I think I recall seeing the AS50 before (way before) getting it in the shop, but, as usual, I forgot to pick one up and don't have it until later.

As it is, I use the silenced version, not quite the shoot through walls power of the AS50, but a heck of a lot more quiet. I took out Min's fortress using it and they didn't know where any of it was coming from. That and I chased a bear down a path with arrows until he stepped on some land mines lol.

It is called the SA-50 ;)

Quote from: Dweller_Benthos on April 17, 2015, 07:58:52 AMuntil he stepped on some land mines lol.

:laugh:

This is pretty useless but thought I'd mention something I found out while thrashing around in game.  I came across this because I'd clipped one of the suspension cables on The King's Bridge with a buzzer and was surprised by its sturdiness and the sound it made so I dropped down to the deck at one end of the bridge and checked it out.

The two suspension cables spanning the length of the bridge have enough girth that they (with care) can be walked up to the top of the two towers or even the entire length of the bridge.  From the North end of the bridge you can directly hop up on the concrete cable anchors and take the stroll.  And from the South end of the bridge by parking a vehicle next to the raised concrete anchor point for a little extra height you can hop up and walk the cable to visit that chicken.  ;)

mandru, you're crazy. In a nice way. :-() 1+ :-X

Can it be used as a zipline mandru?    :-D

Nice  :-X

Nothing like an open world game where you can surprise even the developers

GKID7891, you are right it is called the SA-50.  I had to wait until I got my hands on one to check it.

Another self-correction, it became available when I captured Yuma's Fortress not Min's.

That is a very nice rifle, I have it always equipped. :)

Me too - my favorite long range weapon  :-X

Funny how Ubi does - AS50 in one game and SA50 in another.  I'm surprised that FC4 doesn't sport a 9P6

Quote from: PZ on April 19, 2015, 11:04:24 PM
I'm surprised that FC4 doesn't sport a 9P6

:laugh:

Well, the AS50 is a semi-automatic anti-material rifle designed by Accuracy International (same company that developed the "Arctic Warfare" sniper rifles. It is designed to fire the .50 BMG (which explains how OP the rifle was in Far Cry 2 :-D >:D)

The SA-50 is inspired tby the GM6 "Lynx" bullpup AMR. NO idea why Ubisoft decided to call it the SA-50 ????

 :-X All

I only just discovered that you can pull out any weapon and use it while you're hanging on a parachute - any weapon, not just a sidearm. You can't do this when you're flying in the wingsuit of course, but once you've pulled the ripcord you can dangle and shoot. However you can't swing the weapon around very much, and as soon as you try to steer the parachute the weapon goes away - which figures. But when you let go of the steering controls you can get the weapon back up again.

I guess you could call that a chute-shoot :-() I buzzsawed two bad guys from above using this method.

Cool!  :-X

Quote from: fragger on April 20, 2015, 06:25:29 AM

I only just discovered that you can pull out any weapon and use it while you're hanging on a parachute - any weapon, not just a sidearm...

...I guess you could call that a chute-shoot :-()

:laugh: @ chute-shoot

One of the tougher outpost races starts out on quad runner that you drive off a high altitude jump, shifts to wing-suit (which allows a safe splash-down in water landing) and after threading a needle in a rock wall ends up by grabbing a jet-ski for the final leg of the race.  Hitting the course's target rings in wing-suit mode while descending to the jet-ski is tough enough but there's a helicopter mid-glide that kicks up a variable and unpredictable downdraft that has caused me many frustrating restarts.

On one of my attempts to complete that race after each of several previous starts had been frustratingly thwarted by that miserable helicopter I tossed the race agenda aside and decided to vent on the bird by first popping open my chute then ventilating the pilots compartment with the buzzsaw.  It put me so far off course that it forced yet another restart.

But still, even though the helicopter was back on my next attempt it was rewarding to take revenge and drop that sucker just once.  >:D

Quote from: mandru on April 02, 2015, 06:32:52 AM
As near as I can recall fragger I believe it was the same statue you mentioned at the foot of the stairs facing up towards the larger statue holding the bell.  :-X

I forgot to run my cam when doing this mission.
When you move up towards the big statue who turns when you spin the wheel you pass through an arch, then there's a statue to your right, keep moving up and pass through another arch, the statue immediately to your right turns its head in your direction, a few moments later the head turns back.
Level with this statue is a path to the left you have to take, as you pass through the arch there are two statues at the foot of the stairs, both turn their heads towards you

I saw a statue turn toward me once - gave me the creeps like in an old movie version of Jason and the Argonauts, where a giant bronze turned it's head toward the intrepid thieves.

Especially when not expecting it as in this instance, I'm concentrating so much on the lookout for demons and approaching the statue the darn thing's head turned my way   :o  :-D

It was just last night I caught a glimpse of those two statues turning in unison as you are approaching the stairs.  If the statues made some kind of rusty groaning metal noises when they did that I suspect there's many more that we would locate.

The huge mobile guardian statue Talos on the Isle of Bronze in the 1963 release of Jason and the Argonauts was one of my favorite parts of that movie.  That said the warrior skeletons called up against the crew of the Argos through the scattering of the Hydra's teeth then animated by the goddess Hecate is still in my "Top 100" best movie scenes.  :-D

Mine too - I've remembered it all these years.  Was that huge bronze one of the titans?

Talos as not a titan but rather was a created thing (as in) being forged and cast with great skill into a living bronze statue.  In at least one version of mythology Talos was given to Europa for her protection by Zeus.

More info here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talos)

 :-X  I need to find that movie and watch it again - still a favorite despite the old school special effects.