OpenWorldGames Server ONE

Alright, the first impression(s) was: What! Doesn't run with XP? Need a new OS, buy win7 (cringe, dual boot system setup... but I managed). Then: Need Steam (cringe). Then: Steam caused me to wait until I was even able to download an update, and when I finally downloaded it from Steam, it took like 90 minutes. Why did I buy the DVD again? Update to 1.0.0.1 = "download the entire game, including 1 kb of update?"

The joy was great when I had mastered all the above, the game fired up and actually let me see with my own eyes what I had only been able to watch on youtube (or screenshots) so far: Nice! Works! First thing I did was performance check, the dark tower. Average 32 fps but oh, not everything maxed out? Did that, got around 19 fps (1920*1200 res, no AA, 2xAF, everything else highest possible).

Decided to download the newest nVidia driver, going to tweak the driver's settings and then head on to check the results in a minute ;)

I decided to switch off SSAO, point light specular, Bokeh filter and GPU water simulation. The rest is on its max. Average fps 30.41, that I can live with, and everything looks still great :)

Now, starting a new career!  :-X

Yay! :) This is fun already, in spite of the fact that the controls (mouse, keyboard) are kind of wonky and feel a little delayed, not as crisp and immediate as FC2. Since I want to play and not to get a heart attack, I chose to play on the easiest difficulty level.

I am not familiar with the layout and that causes me to use the grapple as a weapon a lot more (including whacking people's heads with it and causing "fall kills") than actually shooting someone (but I started off with three headshots). Not as easy as it looks, to control your body movement, a grapple, and the glider, if you want to get around with style. At the moment, I am a little bumbling and move rather clumsily, more a disgrace to the mercenary guilds  ;)

This is quite enjoyable, really, to get into all this now by myself  ;D



edit: corrected a grammatical mistake

Oh and I might add, my win7 setup in English payed off: the game prompted me about the setup language "English" to which I thought "bloody YES!" and the game actually is in English, too (despite of my German version)  :-X ;D ;D ;D

Maybe that was the reason my Steam download took so long... maybe they needed to give me all the English sound files. Who cares now  ;D

Excellent reports, Art - I almost feel like I've been there in the room with you as you've done the installation and initial play.

You might have the answer with the English/German version.  Perhaps the entire English version needed to be downloaded because you've the German version on DVD.

I think you'll find that mapping your mouse buttons to frequently used functions will be the answer to comfortably and naturally playing the puppet master.

This is what I've done, and it works for me quite naturally (probably won't w@&k for others, but you get the idea)

• Grapple - I use it so often that it is my first side mouse button.
• Map - the other side button
• Melee - pressing the mouse wheel
• Action (E) - moving mouse wheel to the left
• Stunt - moving mouse wheel to the right
• Aim - top left button
• Grenade select - top right button
• Weapon select - mouse wheel
  

Thank you, PZ :)

I haven't got my mouse and keyboard drivers installed yet, the game recognises two buttons only with my mouse (not for much longer, though  ;) )

I use the default layout at the moment, until I can determine which is which, and I'll take a close look at your suggestion, thanks for your layout  :-X

And about the game:

Heh heh heh  :-* about one hour to familiarise myself with the controls and all, and to get the first location, where you start the game, finished with 100%.  ;D

Only got killed once when I was inside a police car and an armoured vehicle took me out in no time. Kind of underestimated my own armour...  :P But after that, I finished them off, mostly with a little pistol  ;D

This game definitely is great, I can take my own time to finish a mission, the helo kept waiting for me, I walked around until I found the last bit of equipment I could destroy or pick up. I am enjoying it  :) :-X

By the way, the vids on youtube impressed me already when I heard those explosions in stereo. Now with my own game, I hear them in 5.1 and I can't get enough of those sounds... fft-PANG!  ;D

Oh and I managed to tether a govmen to a gas canister and sent him flying away  ;D

Quote from: Art Blade on May 08, 2010, 02:37:36 PM
... I can take my own time to finish a mission, the helo kept waiting for me, I walked around until I found the last bit of equipment I could destroy or pick up. I am enjoying it  :) :-X

That's the great part - everyone in the game knows their role and what to do.  I was on a mission where a Reaper helicopter pilot was to deliver me to a location.  He even left the bird there for me to complete the mission.

there we go again, overlapping posts!  ;D I was editing my previous post while you submitted your post, matey  :)

Yes, they know their places. If not, I'll stitch it into their brains with my grapple!  ;D

One really fun method is the "juggle kill" in which you grapple a govman toward you and when he is close, raise your weapon and blast him.  I use the sawed-off shotgun in such instances, and it offers great satisfaction.

The fall kill is also lots of fun because of the way the govmen yell on the way down to the ground.  I often try to set these up so I get the satisfaction.  ;D

Then there's the melee kill which was my favorite when I first started the kill - keep grappling the victim toward you and when he is close enough, keep hitting him with the grapple.

Finally, the pinata kill where you double grapple a govman to some vertical object.

These are just the beginning of the fun - there is so many different ways to use explosives and grenades (I'd recommend upgrading the explosives)

Of course, because you're on the PC, the wealth of mods, especially the Bolo mod brings another dimension into playing.

Man, you're going to have a blast (I think)  ;D

I'm sure of it  ;D

Already had two funny moments. The casino with the demolition officer outside... I grappled him and tethered him to a nice convertible (some civilian car), got in and ran him over. He was so surprised that he dropped his explosives somewhere far from me, and I heard them go off... while I watched that ugly bug wedged between my rear tyres  ;D

Then I thought "what's that noise?" - the giant waterfall. I jumped in and bounced around and down, down, down... until I left the mission area. The moment I opened my glider, the mission was called a failure. Tssss  ;D Just starting over now.

Good one - the munitions officers are found in various areas, and they always drop their grenades (activated) when they are killed.  It can normally be a challenge to get away before they explode of you are close when you get him, but your technique is not only very good, but very funny.  :-X

I'm going to try something like that the next time.

Thanks, good to know that I'm funny even while killing people ;D

What I've noticed is that you can take your time killing people. No need to panic, just pick them one by one, and preferably find some cover first so they don't perforate your jump suit too quickly. :) I killed 76 peeps so far and never had any worries about ammo. Waltz in, randomly shoot someone, easy-peasy  ;D

As you accomplish more, and clear out areas with greater efficiency, the military security level rises, as does the govman aggressiveness - keeps you on your toes as the game progresses so you don't become bored.  ;D

I think so  ;D

Right now I've taken on a faction mission for the Ulah boys, some stronghold takeover I believe, something where the boss will be "radiated." Before that, I went on a stroll and pulled a statue down with a fire truck and caused some chaos around. I realised that your health doesn't revert to full when you take on a mission... better get your health up before you start a mission  ;)

There are often health packs available, especially on the stronghold missions.  Playing on casual certainly helps my gaming skills.  ;D

glad to hear you're enjoying it Art - welcome to Panau!

thanks, mate  :)

Had to pause the game for a while, now back into it. I just unlocked the extraction feature (I remember it has been asked about), I think it was just because I completed a 2nd location, I wasn't doing anything else at that time when the message popped up.

Watch out Panau, Art Blade's on the case 8)

you bet!  ;D

I thought I'd do some random exploring, couldn't find a fast car (the plane I won an air race with dropped away from down under me when I accidently hit a key that made me bail out). Hijacked a fishing boat, from there some military fast boat, on to some rocket site, gliding to an outpost, grabbed and unmounted a massive gattling gun and then... I played traffic warden around a T-junction. Took out like 80 military vehicles and killed probably 300 peeps there. Trying to establish and uphold the law there isn't an easy task  ;D

Sounds like you jumped right into the mix of things  ;D

hehe, yes :)

I think I get distracted easily. Last thing I did was the faction mission about those rockets sending satellites into orbit, and the (slow) fighter plane you get in the end of that I used to explore some of the map. I realised that it wasn't just that easy because undiscovered locations require quite a low fly-over to register as discovered. So the nearest thing I got to was the airport, I wanted to get that faster plane there but alas, I spotted a colonel (which in three attempts I didn't survive). So I started off from a Ular Boys stronghold, hopped in one of their armed vehicles and wanted to drive to the airport (before that I used an extraction which indeed didn't cost a penny). Now on my way to the airport "we" happened upon some govmen and ever since... I kept fighting on the streets, practicing proper headshots (around 150 now) with a pistol and my kills have accumulated to around 750. So instead of getting back to that damn airport, I kept enjoying myself fighting govmen all over the place for maybe two hours  ;D

You're experiencing what spaceboy mentioned regarding how he plays the game, and what I too experience most of the time.  While it is fun to do the missions, it is just as fun to continue exploring an area after the mission is complete.  I like the way you get to keep the vehicles/weapons you end a mission with - that goes for the races too.

yes, that's pretty cool :)

In general, this game has got many many aspects of what I wanted a game to be: Be able to walk, drive, fly, swim, enter locations (well, not that much here, but it is not that important in this game) and have loads of different items (weapons, vehicles). And indeed, walk in peace or wreak havoc, just the way I like it. On top, I can't beginn to describe how HUGE this gameworld is  :-X

I now have gathered some experience regarding air combat with helos, and in general how to move around (including grapple-gliding). The easiest vehicles to drive on the PC for my taste are boats and bikes. The rest is not too decent. I think, if they made the game better for the PC regarding graphics, they forgot to adapt the controls. A keyboard and a mouse just don't w@&k like a game controller, yet the game seems to behave as if it expects to be played with one.

The fact that it is a third person shooter is not present in my mind, I completely forgot about it and just took it as it was, and it is really ok. I think due to the circumstance that you use a glider and a grapple a lot, it wouldn't w@&k that well if it was a first person shooter.

The landscape and environment is impressive. Weather and such is great, the sounds are really good... this game truly is fantastic :)

I know exactly what you mean, and agree completely.  I don't even think about it being 3rd person.  By the way, there is a cross hair mod which makes it feel more like 1st person - it moves the cross hair rather than it being static in the center of the screen.  Using this mod makes aiming way better on the PC, which is already better than the console.

However, I dread using the vehicles - reminds me of driving the ATs in FC2, which I never did master on the PC.  Flying the planes is a challenge until you become accustomed to the thankfully simple controls.  Using the modded thrusters is actually my favorite method of flying, and you can cover as much territory as a jet if you like.

One thing I noticed this morning as I worked my way through one of the small islands; you never know what you're going to discover even though there are a limited number of possible items.  The way that the developers have mixed and matched the items makes each area feel unique - sure there are the small villages that all seem alike, but when you o to the larger military areas, harbors, and airports, you get some variety.

The game is huge, and I'm still having a great time working my way through it.  :-X

Ok, around 12 hours spent gaming, enemies are not any more as reckless as before, and their numbers increase. They behave like nervous hornets now. For every fart that escapes me, they send in half a dozen of combat helos  ;D

I upgraded my frag grenade, pistol and revolver to lvl3 each, and I notice the difference. I keep using single hand guns, the pistol for multiple enemies, and the revolver (packs more of a punch) for those hard-boiled cracks out there. A colonel is not so fond of a rocket up his rear end, but he can't stand a sniper rifle shot to the head. Taken out a few of those now. When I get into trouble in any location, I take it down until I get 100% there. During faction missions I still prefer unmounted gattling guns in my hands (walking slowly but breathing lead)  ;D

Man, I love this game!  :)

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

wow, that is incredible... Hehe, TDU 600+mi² took around one hour to race at high speed around the isle once  :) FC2 is only shown with one (northern) map. Very interesting comparison :)

I need to go to bed now. 2:50am and I really have to force myself not to continue. JC2 is just great!

Quote from: spaceboy on May 09, 2010, 04:16:53 PM
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!)

Whoa, JC2 is big!

That pic was nicely done - good to have visual comparison, especially if you've not played some of those games before.

good observation Art - that only Leboa is shown for FC2.  Not fair!

Quote from: spaceboy on May 09, 2010, 04:16:53 PM
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

Wow.... Burnout Paradise is the 2nd biggest!!!
Amazing... and GTA San Andreas is the 2nd smallest.... double WOW!!!!!

When I first saw GTA SA I was really impressed... it feels much, much bigger when playing and on the other hand, BOP seems not so big... maybe its due to vehicle speed, BOP is insane fast sometimes whereas GTA SA seems fast but its only a bl;ur at the edges of the screen

Don't forget to read what is to the right side of the graph... the even bigger games that don't have their maps displayed.

Quote from: Art Blade on May 09, 2010, 03:56:53 PM
... During faction missions I still prefer unmounted gattling guns in my hands (walking slowly but breathing lead)  ;D

Man, I love this game!  :)

Just for clarification to those that are not playing the game, I've been calling these "miniguns", but "unmounted Gatling gun" is more descriptive.  Maybe we should use an acronym "UGG"  ;D

now I know those are spelled with one T, thanks ;) Yeah, UGG or GG is a good one  :-X

Today the first thing I decided to do was an air race. Sawah River (western part of the map, an isle in a river) which is a 3 star rated race (max difficulty). That race is comprised of 19 goals to hit, each goal you hit unlocks (shows) the next one and so on. You are given a one minute count down during which to achieve a win. Died a couple of times when trying to get used to that small plane, then went for it... 30.36 seconds record. I skipped the bonus goals (which would have given me more time) and yet I think 30 secs sounds unlikely... felt like flying like a couple of minutes. Nice though  :)

On casual, each time you successfully go through a "hoop", some number of seconds (I recall 10 seconds per goal on my last race) are added to your timer.

I'm impressed that you were able to do an airplane race on the PC so short into the game, particularly with the 3 star difficulty  :-X

I still can't fly a plane in a race and actually complete it.

thanks :) I got killed like 5 or 6 times more or less at the start and one very spectacular mishap when trying to fly a vertical loop (slammed into the ground instead of pulling up).  ;D

Actually all you need to do is this:

• don't use the mouse
• use the steering keys as little as possible
• try to predict where your plane is going before you correct its path

After the race I discovered a couple of locations with that plane, visited the Miles High Club (nice), took their local plane and found Panau International Airport where I successfully landed my plane. Hijacked a big airliner there (after the pilot had done his job with the lift-off) and found Panau City and its districts. There I abandoned the airliner so it disappeared unnoticed (sea), grabbed my favourite bike (an equivalent of a Yamaha 250 although they changed some letters in that name hehe, love the sound of its engine) and did a city tour. To my surprise, down at the Residential District, I found a colonel. Courtesy of my sniper rifle, the city only heard a loud bang and Rico going "AHAHAhahahahar!" (colonels are easy to pick with a headshot) ;D

I've been playing the game for a long time now, and haven't encountered that Colonel - in fact, I've spent most of my time in the rural areas rather than the cities.  Looks like I've lots of fun times ahead.

That city is impressive. I spent some time driving around there on my bike, occasionally being shouted at "THERE HE IS!" and managed to lose my pursuers quite easily. Man.. this game is still so new I am easily impressed with what I see there, incredible.  :)

Quote from: Art Blade... 30.36 seconds record. I skipped the bonus goals (which would have given me more time) and yet I think 30 secs sounds unlikely... felt like flying like a couple of minutes. Nice though  :)

Note that all the races in the game are countdowns and that each checkpoint gives you an extra 10 seconds (I think), so your 30 seconds will be the time you had left after your initial minute (?) plus 10 seconds times the number of checkpoints you passed through.  So the ultimate goal is to get the MOST time remaining at the end of the race.

Quote from: Art Blade on May 10, 2010, 09:37:03 AM
Don't forget to read what is to the right side of the graph... the even bigger games that don't have their maps displayed.

Oh... sure... right... ::) :P :-[

Thats explain one side... BOP being big - in fact I was right, it's big, pero no mucho  ;D ;D

But GTA SA still impressing me... I remember it being huge!!

hehe :)

"pero no mucho" is Spanish (castellano) -- I thought you spoke Portuguese, do you use the same words in that case? :)

No... in Portuguese it would be mas não muito. We use a few spanish expressions from nuestros hermanos (our brothers) though, but in a funny way. Sure thing many words are the same and can be used in both countries.

thanks, JRD :)

And thanks, batdog, for your info about races  :)

I am still happy with single shot weapons, I still use my pistol and for special occasions my revolver (never dual wielded). The sniper rifle is dedicated to colonels. I use hand grenades a lot for destruction, and if I ran out of them I resort to c-4. All of those are upgraded to lvl4 but the revolver which is lvl3. Now around 2000+ kills of which 500+ were headshots. I have to remind myself to keep calm and aim rather than spray and pray  ;D

Although I spent almost 50 hours playing the game, I still wouldn't say that I was familiar with it. Well, the controls (default layout) are now familiar, I learned how to use the grapple and the glider well, and I got used to the "wonky" feeling the game controls impart. What I mean is, this game world is so incredible huge that I feel a stranger to basically every place, even if I passed through some of the locations more than once. Other than FC2, you don't revisit a place. There are like 400 villages, harbours, airports and whatnot to be discovered and discovering them takes most of the time I spend. Which in a way feels like being a tourist on a massive sight-seeing tour. I like that :) Unlike a tourist, I steal vehicles or get supplied with weapons and vehicles, furthermore I kill soldiers and destroy government property. I like that, too  ;D

Currently I am busy tidying up Panau City's districts. The city is huge... So I am happy with my fully upgraded sniper rifle, climb rooftops, and from there shoot colonels in the head (now 22 total) and also take down water towers from quite a distance with a single shot. On my way around I collect goodies such as armour and weapon and vehicle upgrades, along with some random drug drops (erm, drug dops.. are those like acid drops, only with drugs in them instead? Nice sweets they have there LOL). When I see a propaganda trailer or a statue, I take them out, too. There is no better hiding place than on top of somewhat higher buildings that govmen can't see from down on the streets. I played probably two hours now in the city, and they never caught me :)

Good tip - I've hardly used the sniper rifle because the view through the scope is so poor in my opinion - now I might have to try it.

I should try that as well Art - sounds like a good strategy.

The thing is, before I got the game I watched guys on youtube playing it. When I saw the first guy who didn't use massive firepower (automatic weapons, explosives) taking out govmen cold-blooded with single shots to the head, I realised that he played the way I wanted to... that is why I never used anything but my pistol, then additionally my revolver (never dual wielded) and it was only logical to go for the sniper rifle.

Quote from: Art Blade on May 15, 2010, 02:33:27 PM
(erm, drug dops.. are those like acid drops, only with drugs in them instead? Nice sweets they have there LOL).

Sounds like sweets that I have fond flashbacks - er, memories - of.

lol ;D ;D

I just found out that a fully upgraded revolver can take down a military helo (I think 12 shots, though, you can carry 60 rounds for it max), wow  ;D

I decided to try the BOLO mod (3.0) to see what it does. I treated myself to maxing out my explosives and the usual loadout, and one faction mission ("Above the Law" - help a hacker high up on a sky scraper collect data, defend a satellite dish against like 5 military helos who come one by one) forced me to change the sniper rifle with a rocket launcher, so I maxed that one out, too. With unlimited ammo and weapons like that, the game actually turns into a madman's paradise... blow up everything, and the opponents keep coming... so much fun to send govmen's cars flying up with the rocket launcher while they approach at neck-breaking speeds  ;D The stronger grapple is funny, too. I tried multiple wires but resorted to a single (default) one, but kept the modded strength of it. A lot of fun, really :)

Tried dual-wielded SMGs, maxed out. Devastating... they take a chopper down in like 3 seconds LOL

I decided to finish the "official part" (agency missions) and watched the end credits. Now I'm in merc mode... still a lot of faction missions to do, and all that stuff... 37% of the game finished so far, 60 hours game play (not always mission orientated), around 200 166 locations discovered. I keep finding places when I happen upon them, sometimes I take a trip to undiscovered locations if I feel like it. Really nice to have a playground that big even after finishing the plot.  :-X

edit: overly optimistic number, now 70hrs and 180 locations, 38%.

So true Art I'm amazed at how much I've been doing since going into merc mode and I'm still only at like 47% - about 55 hours of gameplay.

Great value :-X

Can't wait to get into it, as soon as the stores more copies in stock... :'(

Indeed, space, now the fun begins.. having finished the plot :)

Fragger, good luck getting your copy.. make 'em get one for ya  :-* ;D

Those army choppers got on my nerves quite a bit until I found a nice cure for them: Instead of hijacking them with the grapple, I tether them to the ground so they can't fly around and hide behind trees (they do that a lot). When they are trapped like that, I just shoot them down  ;D

Many locations sport ammo crates and weapon crates. Those weapon crates mostly contain a SMG. So I swapped my pistol and revolver for two SMGs, kind of hard to run out of ammo now.

I tried a WWII-style dogfight with a smaller military jet hunting some small plane. Took me ages to take it out, and then there was a second small plane right next to me, so again I hunted that one, too. Only this time I managed to smack my jet into that plane and both planes exploded. When I hit the water, I was miles away from the shore, but I could call the black market chopper to extract me. Phew  ;D

Nice tips and story, mate :-X

I should be there soon... I took your advice Art and made them get me one. I grappled the sales guy to the wall until he agreed to order a copy in ;D

 ;D :-X

PZ mentioned a couple of times how beautiful sunsets and sunrises were. I concur  ;D :-X Sometimes when I am not in the middle of a fight and realise the sky shows a change in day/night, it is great to watch the blue sky with pink and orange clouds spread about, other clouds may pass by, and the sun reflects on the sea with occasional sunbeams breaking through clouds or come from between hills and mountains... seagulls play around in the breeze (can't shoot 'em down, tried that) and sometimes a lone plane on its way to some place exotic... truly a nice view. When some palm trees stand in my sight, I just lob a hand grenade over (or c-4) and create a clear space in front of me  ;D

Nice one Art - let me blow up these trees so I can enjoy the view lol.

Precisely. Hell, when nature is in my way when I want to enjoy nature, it's only natural to blow it up  ;D

Quote from: Art Blade on May 24, 2010, 12:24:44 PM
Precisely. Hell, when nature is in my way when I want to enjoy nature, it's only natural to blow it up  ;D

And with that, we can now bestow upon you honorary US citizenship.

;)

LOL nice one ;D ;D ;D

That made me chuckle for some time, matey  :)

ROLF, you guys are funny ;D ;D ;D

I've been flying some planes quite a bit lately and crashed several of them trying to fly under bridges of all sorts. Meanwhile I got a collection of 30 individual bridges I passed underneath, and earned a bridge limbo achievement only 1% of all steam players managed. I think I understand why there are only a few people with that achievement ;D

The greatest pastime for me is surfing cars (faster cars = better) and shoot pursuing govmen with my fully upgraded machine gun. Around 5 to 10 bullets and their rides are toast, and so are they  ;D Also, tethering those pursuing cars to the ground is hilarious to watch as they flip or can't continue to follow... then shoot them until they blow up :)

I watched motorcyclist govmen pursuing me after both of their tyres were gone, engine on fire, a flaming wreck... yet they kept chasing me! Until they blew up, that is  ;D

As Eeyore said, "embrace the absurdity" of the game. I am mostly between amusement and annoyance when it comes to pursuits. Govmen can spot me from far away if I hide behind a corner and perhaps my nose sticks out. When someone spots me, the entire area is on alert immediately.

Choppers play "seek and destroy" for a good while, not really easy to escape those... so I tried to play with them: grapple a chopper and tether it to the ground or something that can't be lifted, then dash away... the chopper nailed to the spot I last saw it... if it can't follow, it won't be able to spot me any more after a short while, especially when I move behind obstacles, hehehe  ;D

Last time I tried something else: tie a pursuing jeep to a pursuing chopper and let both play wrecking ball with their mates on the ground while I was taking a French leave ;)

While surfing a civilian car, I aimed at the tyres of a chasing jeep. Got both front tyres and the gunman. So the driver of that jeep, screeching on its metal wheels, kept pulling up on his own and overtook my ride. So I shot both of his rear tyres, too. He kept the pace and ahead, so I tethered the jeep to the carmack which resulted in a harsh jerk, jeep nearly flipping, but he fell behind. I released the grapple, and that toughy came pulling up again. I mean, his jeep was more suited for rails than road, but he did it anyway! Until he wacked an oncoming motorcyclist which made both their vehicles stop, go up in flames, and finally explode. Nice, serves you right, ba$t@rd!  ;D

I managed to "cook off" hand grenades just right (keep them ticking in my hand so, when thrown, they explode nearly immediately) and take out pursuing govmen by surprise HEHE  ;D

This game is fun  :) :-X

Quote from: Art Blade on May 08, 2010, 12:31:12 PM
I decided to switch off SSAO, point light specular, Bokeh filter and GPU water simulation. The rest is on its max. Average fps 30.41, that I can live with, and everything looks still great :)

Having updated the nVidia driver 257.21 I now get 40.75 fps with these settings! whoa  :-X

Today I had got time for a long drive in Panau. I wanted to go by car from the desert in the Southwest to Panau City in the Northwest, requiring me to drive almost full circle because there is no short connection which means I had to drive around the sea almost passing the centre of the map. I marked the destination on my map to which the game reacted with showing arrows hovering above the tarmac showing me where to go. Apparently the navigation system isn't exactly perfect, I realised on my way that I could have used a shorter route but still it was fun. Took me nearly one hour in real time.

What I wanted to do as a secondary objective was to keep the same car, a Hamaya Oldman convertible, red. Those Oldmen are very common since every village's entry and exit is guarded by govmen and next to their jeep there is always a civilian car, as if to provide you with a ride. In the desert, it's almost always an Oldman, in other parts of Panau there may be other cars. What I like about JC2 is the fact that all vehicles come in different colours, quite many colours actually. Even military vehicles feature a camouflage that matches the surrounding, ie. in the mountains they are white with grey, in the desert yellow/beige, in the jungle green. That goes for planes and choppers, too :)

Civilian vehicles often come in different types, like the Oldman may be hard- or soft top or convertible. Also interesting how much detail you can admire: When you drive for a while, your car gets dirty and dirtier; they sport different layers of dirt that looks as if someone had splashed muddy water across the chassis. Even the windows show layers of dirt. Then accidents actually do affect your vehicle, and you can see where you damaged your car. For example, I once lost control and the car turned sliding into a lamp post with my right rear side, and I lost the mudguard. I could see the right rear tyre from behind. Once I hit something brutally with my left front wheel, and it inclined as well as produced a rattling sound, the car wouldn't steer straight any more.

Well, starting midday on a sunny day, I got involved in a little fight on my way to the city and also some pursuit only because I passed a not yet completed military compound. Those bastards ruined my red convertible and I had to find another one. During my trip I exchanged my ride a couple of times because it was so dirty (used different types of Oldmen, whatever type there was) but for the majority of time on say the last half of the trip I could indeed keep a red Oldman convertible. The landscape was beautiful and the weather rather favourable. When I arrived at dusk, it started to rain. I parked and watched the car, curious to know if the rain washed the dirt off, but it stayed dirty. Well. Still a good game ;)

Good story  :-X

I too like the way the vehicles "age" with dirt and body damage.  The helicopters I manage to hijack typically have a windshield cracked from bullets, or shot out altogether.

Speaking of hijacking choppers, a few times I decided to do it hardcore.. I grappled onto one, hung underneath on my grapple with one arm, a gun in the other hand.. out of reach for their guns.. and then I shot down the bloody chopper right from down there.  :-* ;D

I like that Art - I gotta try that myself!

Not sure if this has been mentioned before but you can drive through shallow water and wash off your car if it's dirty :).

Really?! I just have to try that myself! lol, thanks, tehsam016  :) :-X

No prob. I love going off road then finding some nearby water and clean my car/bike when i'm done :).

If only I could keep my rides long enough to do that  ;D Right now I'm in the Lautan Lama Desert and borderland of Senjakala Islands, doing some Moto Cross. Actually bought a bike off the black market dealer, fully upgraded means a lot of armour to survive crazy jumps over ledges and chasms. There is a game glitch I don't know how to reproduce, maybe due to alt-tabbing out of the game a lot, which causes civilian traffic to cease, leaving me with empty roads (apart from scarce faction and government vehicle encounters) and that causes me to bomb down the roads like a maniac. Right now I didn't quite catch a turn and finally blew up my bike, that's why I'm here now  ;D

Nice. I'm surprised how much damage regular civilian bikes can go through as well. I think i drove off at least a 50 ft ledge yesterday and my bike survived (but the front tire was all wobbly :P).

Yes.. I deformed numerous wheels doing that  ;D The best sequential crashes were: Jump off a ramp and fall like 50 yards rendering my rear tyre an egg-shaped thing, and then with all effort jump another ledge. On landing the bike chucked me off and went sailing over another cliff and out of sight, but I could hear the explosion and saw smoke from where the bike had disappeared to.  ;D

Haha niice. I love how explosions in the distance actually sound like it :).

The sounds, especially explosions, are absolutely great. I could go on blowing stuff up just to hear those  ;D I use a 5.1 speaker system, and when something behind me blows up for no apparent reason it always makes me chuckle  ;D

I think the engine sounds of most vehicles vary from good to great, I love the sound some fat bikes make, like the ones driven by govmen. Argh, I need to go back into it right away  ;D

Yeah I use a 5.1 speaker system as well and it does indeed sound great. It's also very useful to hear if any govmen are behind you and what not. I love how they even have the sound of small rocks hitting your vehicle when taking sharp turns/hand braking :). But yeah this game is way too addicting, and i dont see me playing much else (except RDR) for quite some time :P.

Hehe :) Unfortunately I can't get RDR for PC (yet?) so I'll stick to JC2.

Speaking of sound effects such as stones hitting your chassis reminds me of the sharp exploding sound of a shot-out tyre followed by the rumbling and screeching sound of the rim hitting tarmac  ;D

Remembering PZ's fondness of immersion, I decided to fully enjoy the landscape and prepared a road trip: In the game settings, I switched off the music and set the HUD's opacity to zero = no distracting info such as mini map or flashing signals or anything, just landscape. Then I switched on one of my favourite DJ mixes (from a UK underground deep house radio station) and checked the map. I did the same trip from the Southwestern desert towards Panau City but without the navigation system. It was splendid, I could actually enjoy what I saw and stop here and there to admire the landscape and sunsets/sunrises. This game is fabulous :)

Nice i'll have to do that sometime. Or atleast listen to this while soaring around in a military jet :).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8rZWw9HE7o (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8rZWw9HE7o)

I can't..

QuoteThis video contains content from Sony Music Entertainment. It is no longer available in your country.

Aw well it's Kenny Loggins - Highway to the Danger Zone ;)

Thanks, sam  :-X Hehe, sight-seeing in a military jet.. something out of the ordinary, I'd say  ;D

Hah yeah i guess a biplane would be more appropriate ;), but i have yet to find one myself. Changed the song link too :P.

Not exactly my cup of tea, but I can imagine flying around in a fighter jet listening to that ;)

By the way, I think it might be better to put the youtube link back in and additionally leave interpret/title. Anyone who can't watch it but really wants to listen to it, will have to find a way ("buy it"). For my taste, that link you just posted is a little erm, shall we say, dubious? I'd hate to see anyone take legal steps claiming that we supported certain download sites :) Cheers matey

Yeah I thought somebody would say that site is a lil shady, and I wasn't really seriously suggesting listening to it, i was just making a slight ode to Top Gun :P (a cheesy 80s flick about jet fighters).

Thanks for sorting it out :) "Top Gum" <sic> I remember, watched it at the flicks back then, complete hysteria back in the day  ;D

On topic:

Completed a few races in Panau City. One was really funny, had to race with a Tuc-Tuc Rickshaw through backyards and small passages  ;D

That's a good one - never tried that one yet  :-X

Quote from: PZ on June 21, 2010, 11:27:01 AM
That's a good one - never tried that one yet  :-X

It's called "Backdoor breaking" and is located in Panau City Docks District. The race symbol is extremely close to "Panau City Speed Freak".

In that district there is another crazy race called "Kicked to the Curb" where you get a huge tank-like military vehicle with 8 wheels and a gatling gun turret (unmanned), and it's painted black and red. You've got to race across the pavements rather than on the street, turning pedestrians into mushy red stuff all the way  ;D

I need to get into Panau and do some of the races - those I've not done many of because I usually dislike them - plus the fact that I'm having too much fun with the govmen on the streets  ;D

I tried to take advantage of the glitch as long as it lasted.. nothing beats a race on empty streets. However, one race forced me to restart from checkpoint, and the traffic was back on. It was fun to see the city empty and doing races the easy way  ;) I only just completed 15 challenges. What I can't quite handle are those free fall races, I never hit the circles after the first one at the start! Going to ask a question in a seperate topic how to do those..

Quote from: PZ on June 21, 2010, 11:49:40 AM
I need to get into Panau and do some of the races

Found two more funny races in Panau City, this time Park District. One race is called "Backstage Pass" and the other "Park District Bugrun." The former is again with a Tuc-Tuc (hehe) through narrow passages between buildings, the latter with a beach buggy and leads through the park on some sandy paths and also some streets. Both were rather enjoyable :)

Just realised that if you repeat a race (playing again after a while) the "best time" recorded is actually nothing more and nothing less than the last race's time.

No matter how bad you get it the next time, it will be your "best" time. For instance, I just tried to break my record in the Panau City Financial District's race (to be found on a bridge/highway) called "Utara Bridge Insanity." My actual record there is 01:49:xx minutes (!) I forgot the exact count of centiseconds, but in total it was near 1:50:00 minutes.

I failed to break the record and ended up with 2:10:xx (after a funny crash with govmen and facmen who were chasing one another on the bridge) so I tried again, only to see the record was now 2:10?! Sloppy programming, but I don't think that there are a lot of people who actually try to improve their best times, especially for that race that constantly leads through oncoming traffic (left lane of the bridge etc)  ;D

I tried playing without HUD and crosshair (to switch off the HUD you change opacity to 0 in game settings, for the crosshair you can use the BOLOpatch). Looks like a merc movie :) It's not that bad if you are familiar with the game, ie played for a good while. I'm nearing 200 hours game play and know how the grapple works even if I don't see a crosshair. I don't need the minimap unless I want to collect items. So it is truly immersive when you drive around or fight without any indicators and ammo counter etc :) I think it is best when playing during (ingame) night because probably every weapon uses tracers. The auto-aim function is still working despite of having switched off the crosshair. The last shooting was a blast :)

Switched everything back on. Was just for a while, and I keep doing it once in a while (especially when simply cruising around in nice parts of Panau).

***

Meanwhile I accumulated 1,500km driving, by car and bike. Although you can use everything, including grapple and parachute, I recently found a lot of pleasure driving. You get to see a lot more like that, and if the car isn't too fast, you don't crash all the time ;) That's why I favour the Oldman cars and the Hayama 250 bikes (those with the unmistakable cool phat sound).

Driving around in the Southeast, I found routes you can't see (or, barely) on the map. For example, check the end of the visible road (there's a military Base) at X:27400 Y:30000, perhaps have your BMD extract you there. If you go (better: drive) on, through the base, you'll notice a subtle path that leads on behind it. It's brown soil, hard to tell if it is a path, but to the left and right hand side is green, so it definitely is a path. Actually it picks up the road that seems to be out of place more to the East. Currently I am on my way to the far East of that part of Panau to get to the yet uncompleted military base, and I thought I'd try to drive to that location (bike, this time). It is simply beautiful, kind of a lighter and friendlier version of the Heart Of Darkness area in FarCry2. Truly a pleasure to drive or ride through those parts of Panau :)

By the way, just realised the base I was after belonged to the final Agency mission, only back then I was in a hurry and a bit stressed so I didn't find the time to complete it ;D Completed it now.

Your descriptions are excellent, and make me want to get back into the game just to see those areas you describe.  :-X

Me too  ;D

Thanks, PZ :)

Well I´m now about 20 hours in and I´m liking it more and more. I´ve taken to driving most of the when I need to get somewhere and have so far reach almost 350 km. It´s like playing FUEL only with guns  ;D.

Right, that's what we missed the most in FUEL, didn't we  ;D

You bet  ;D

It is amazing how much of a relief it is, sometimes, to just stop on a road, get off your vehicle, and start to blow up all sorts of innocent-looking vehicles which would otherwise have blocked your way. For some reason doing that attracts local authorities which just adds to the relief when blowing them up as well  ;D

I think I said once before that JC2 seems like the love child of Far Cry 2 and FUEL.  I'm having difficulty shutting it off again.  Feels good to revisit Panau.  I just keep wanting to parachute around and drive places.  I actually have been mostly non-combative on my recent visits though.  That'll change soon enough  ;D

I've recently been a little non-combative, too, driving around in nice parts of Panau. Still, I've got over 20,000 kills so far (including people who dented my grill)  ;D

Quote from: spaceboy on June 30, 2010, 08:49:58 AM
I think I said once before that JC2 seems like the love child of Far Cry 2 and FUEL.

Nice.. I remember Eeyore saying something like that, too..

Quote from: eor123 on May 05, 2010, 10:41:24 AM
I came up with a description of JC2...it's the illegitimate love child of Grand Theft Auto and Far Cry 2.

lol - great minds think alike!

..and like the same games, too ;D

(including those minds who would have liked the same games if they had got the rigs necessary or the freedom of choice between 3rd person and FPS  ;) )

Quote from: Art Blade on June 22, 2010, 01:55:46 PM
Just realised that if you repeat a race (playing again after a while) the "best time" recorded is actually nothing more and nothing less than the last race's time.

No matter how bad you get it the next time, it will be your "best" time. For instance, I just tried to break my record in the Panau City Financial District's race (to be found on a bridge/highway) called "Utara Bridge Insanity." My actual record there is 01:49:xx minutes (!) I forgot the exact count of centiseconds, but in total it was near 1:50:00 minutes.

I failed to break the record and ended up with 2:10:xx (after a funny crash with govmen and facmen who were chasing one another on the bridge) so I tried again, only to see the record was now 2:10?! Sloppy programming, but I don't think that there are a lot of people who actually try to improve their best times, especially for that race that constantly leads through oncoming traffic (left lane of the bridge etc)  ;D

I'll never learn this. Maybe now I have. Someone once told me, but I haven't raced in like 200 hours game time, now I'm into it a bit more.

This game isn't a "normal" racing game. Here you get a "time buffer" after each goal, counting down, but it adds up if you are faster than necessary. The higher the time you've got ( = the more buffer time you accumulated), the better you are. So in fact, I was better (2:10 time left rather than 1:49). So it is properly programmed and actually it is a best time.

Sorry for the confusion :)