Analyzing Far Cry 2's loneliness

I player Far Cry 3 first. So it's hard to enjoy far cry 2. But I'll try. Will edit this if I complete the game.

I agree that far cry 2 is good but I don't agree that far cry 3, 4 and 5 are bad

Love this game

This game needs a remaster.

Good observation. The point of the story is that after you catch malaria and fail at tailing the Jackal, (as in he tails you and he gets away) your left to make some sort of a living by working for the war lords. Assuming that your character is trying to just work on getting out of the country but instead your faced with treachery and choices that land you between doing the right thing or doing the selfish thing.

The Jackal is an interesting character. More of Far Cry's first anti hero. His philosophy is not really to keep the war going because its profitable to him but rather the idea of supplying a bunch of murderers and rapists with enough arms to kill each other off through ceaseless violence while staying out of the crossfire.

This is my first farcry game .

For me, I absolutely loved it. It was very much a "roll your sleeves up and get on with it" type of game. Here's an AK, here's your pills, now go and save the day. But... it's not that simple, is it? No.

The player is fighting a losing battle in a war-torn country where there is, pretty much, no hope. You can't walk/drive five miles without getting shot at, stabbed, or blown up. Conditions are harsh, the terrain is rough, weapons jam up, and eventually break. Money is hard to come by, and resources are scarce.

On top of that, you're fighting your own battle with malaria. Big deal. So is everyone else.

Far Cry 2 didn't make you feel special. It didn't make you feel like a hero. It made you feel vulnerable. That is why, to me, it is a masterpiece.

Far cry 2 was the most realistic game among its franchise. The problem with other far cry games is that hallucinations necessarily question the completion of your mission. For example: In far cry 3, for example, after Jason gets stabbed by Vaas, he enters a hallucination state and then stabs Vaas..That's brings the question whether he really killed vaas or not.

Seeing the forward assist on the left side. Hurts my eyes....

Far Cry 2 is basically all you see are enemies and will try to kill you.
Even the commander always says you don't have friends (APR and UFLL missions)

I’ve always loved the feeling of holding the map up and driving one of those jeeps down a dirt road while I get shot at by assholes. Lol.

This video just reminded me that I still have Far Cry 2 sitting in my Steam library with 0 hours played because I picked it up with Pillars Of Eternity on sale... I really need to get to the game...

ITS NOT A DAYUM TECH DEMO JAREK!!
Other than that good analysis.
But still...
Just because graphics not up to modern standards doesnt mean tech demo bro....

Loneliness

Far cry 2 is the type of Gane who gets better with time

This guy gets it

Ah yes. Far Cry 2, my favorite Far Cry game to this day. Also The Jackal is really interesting and grounded villan, unlike comic book villans from later games

Replaying this again in 2023. Absolutely love it. I guess the fact that every single NPC just wants to kill you on sight is my biggest issue. Here's an oke travelling merrily down the road on his own in a jalopy. He sees you, and immediately gives chase, gets out, and starts shooting. Why? We're both just stuck in this shithole. Anyhow, still love it. Still looks freaking amazing. I kinda like the choice of travel - bus, drive, or boat there. Or glide on the odd occasion.

Played farcry2 back at a friends house when it came out it made me fall in love with the series,only complaint is the frame rate is shit on consle

Malaria represents the “sickness” outsiders get when they travel to the “heart of darkness” aka Africa. Same with jackals brain cancer.
Far cry 2 has a lot of parallels with heart of darkness

I didn’t spend much time driving in FC2, I played that game SUPER stealthy, sneeking through the jungle and planning my route to avoid patrols and checkpoints. When engaging an outpost I’d scout for a long time, then I’d pop them off while circling around so I’d see them searching for me around the place where I last fired. FC2 was by far the best game I ever played.

I wish we would get a remake

malaria is a mechanic to make you have to help the civilians get out of the war for the meds in exchange to keep pushing to kill the arms dealer. it showcases the other side of the war you have both warlords ufll and apr doing missions but after a few needing new meds you see civilians trapped in a war torn country and the factions actively trying to cleanse them.

You did hit the nail on the head about FarCry2 being an unique experience even after all this years. Everytime i play a game set on the African wilderness or countryside (if you'd call it that), i immediately feel nostalgic thanks to this title being so raw and immersive, I'm glad it has become a sort of cult classic a decade and so later.

This game still holds up

One of the biggest parts of the game that i didn't see you mention, maybe you did, but its one of the main reasons farcry2 is my favorite farcry and one of my all time favorite games and the reason, leaves so much dread as im playing it. You CAN'T see enemies threw solid objects like some magical wizard. You never know where your gonna be shot at and some AI's even take you totally buy surprise. It keeps you on the edge of your seat because you don't know where anyone is even after scoping a place out. Even with the long driving its the most immersive farcry of them all

i played fc2 way back in the day and i just realize now, watching this video, that fc2 has that strong stalker vibe of you being in a world where you're not actually the protagonist, but just another guy trying to get by. It has that sense of impending death where you can easily die in a random shootout without the world caring about it

I want to try new far cry that are as hardcore as far cry 2 just raw..

I'm glad history has been kind to FarCry 2.

Maybe they will never come up with such an immersive FC experience, because there are so many elements in the more recent games that Ubisoft will never take out again, or it will become a polarizing game and they want the main titles as much popular and broad as possible

Man! I remember this game over 16 years ago, but played this game over 10 years ago.

Far Cry 2 is the best in the franchise. Malaria, friends missions, etc are there to make your play through longer so that you have more game. When I played through it the 3rd time, I realized the story is actually pretty good. You kill the police chief, destroy medicine, blow up critical infrastructure, and this leads to the events of part 3. It's supposed to be an homage to Heart of Darkness. None of the characters are relatable, there are no major set pieces, no mcguffins, and the story becomes an afterthought. The story's pretty sad though, if you paid attention. It's literally the same story as Far Cry 3 for people who watch 60 Minutes.

I’m one of the few people who like malaria and weapon degradation in FC2. “Man vs nature” is one of the overbearing themes of this series and in every other far cry game that manifests as tigers in the bushes who’ll try and bite your face off, which is all well and good I guess but in FC2 it’s more subtle - it’s the dust and humidity corroding your weapons, which as the player character in an fps are your means to power in the game. The worst enemy isn’t some monster that can be shot and killed, it’s a deadly disease lurking in your very blood. It doesn’t matter how many guns and bombs and bullets you load yourself up with, it doesn’t matter how sharp your aim is, how many men you’ve killed or how many diamonds you’ve earned, you’re still completely at the mercy of sickness and entropy. Malaria is ultimately too thematically perfect in that way for me to consider its removal as a positive, even if it is ultimately not that interesting as an actual game mechanic. Weapon degradation is something I unreservedly enjoy in this game because it can lead to chaos in fights that can flip a battle scenario on its head a nd frustrate your plans in a way that forces you to adapt on the fly, leading to exciting emergent moments. I just wish enemies had to deal with it too given how knackered their weapons usually are.

The later Far Cry games did away with disempowering gameplay mechanics like this and I think they’ve become worse off for it. The environments are supposed to be dangerous, far-flung places but have instead basically turned into sandboxes full of resources for the player to plunder and make themselves stronger. The games have trended towards dumping tons of ever-more flashy and gaudy ways for the player to power up and slaughter hordes of unintelligent goons, and after what, 9 games following this pattern it’s become utterly stale.

Far Cry 2 by way of contrast stands out - when you’re out in the savannah, clutching onto a weapon that’s deteriorated and has become prone to jamming, beset by disease, far away from the nearest safe house and never far away from another encounter with ruthless, cunning, bloodthirsty enemies that are just as bad as the other side they’re fighting with you caught in the midst of their senseless war, I’m sold way more in the premise of being stranded in a violent and hostile locale way more than any other subsequent far cry game. But for me the best part of it all is how it all affects the way you play. The game doesn’t have Far Cry 3’s broken stealth mechanics or chain takedowns, or the ridiculous contraptions FC6 has, or any other kind of easy win button. Instead, to master the challenges the game throws at you the best way is to lean into the mindset of a cold, heartless mercenary. For instance enemies will try and pick up their wounded comrades and put them somewhere safe - you can exploit this by deliberately shooting to wound enemies, lying in wait and then picking off their allies as they try to help. Enemies sometimes conceal themselves in the foliage, so light it on fire and flush them into the open where they can be gunned down. Ambush convoys with IEDs, use the game’s powerful sniper rifles to pick enemies off from concealment while they scatter and panic as their friends drop dead in front of them, just in general always taking fights from a position where you have the upper hand, discarding the notion of fighting fair and instead act like a honourless piece of shit merc with no humanity is the way to go - the game makes you fight like a savage, and in that way it fulfils its goal of evoking its influence Heart of Darkness in a way that no cutscene ever could. Overall it’s one of my favourite games in the series and one of my favourites overall.

The map is why I love stalker anomaly so much, you physically pull out your PDA and can see your thumb moving the cursor on the screen. Opening my inventory my character takes his backpack off to look inside, all in real time.

Farcry 2 is the best of the series

Man i want a farcry game in snowy Serbia, or Antarctica

Great Game! Loved the Multiplayer

One of my favorite parts of FC2 is story

About to be 16 years old

At the time, I enjoyed playing this game. I think I have played it three times. It's been so long, maybe I ought to play it again. Currently playing FarCry 3. 😁

I loved how this game really caught the feeling of being in a dirty African bush war.

Being a tech demo is something not inherently bad in itself. All Half Life games are tech demos for Valve.

I loved Far Cry 2. It was my first. Every other one seemed different from it. Crazy story with their own crazy characters. What I like about Far Cry was that it felt like you were trying to survive the world. You weren’t this superhero main character like the sequels.

Far cry 2 is my favourite far cry game,
I loved far cry 3 and 4 too,
5 was ok and 6 too
But far cry 2 for me is the GOAT.

The game where the AI's main goal is to take you out at any cost. AI will blow itself up if it even so much as sees you across the field.

Still pretty fun on pc in 2025

I still play farcry2 LAN with my friends.. 😮‍💨❤️