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Penny Arcade - Comic - Farcry

DogDog Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
edited October 2021 in The Penny Arcade Hub
imagePenny Arcade - Comic - Farcry

Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.

Read the full story here

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Posts

  • Dodo SandvichDodo Sandvich Registered User regular
    Well you can argue this email about playtime thing is a moderately unique concept.
    At least it made me notice that there's a new Farcry.
    Which I will now forget in 10 minutes. Not all press is actually good press.

  • V1mV1m Registered User regular
    I feel like if you have to send people who just bought your game an email to remind them it exists, then you already know there's a problem and it's the game.

  • ZenigataZenigata Registered User regular
    The last Far Cry I found interesting was 2. They just got so repetitive and boring after that. Ubisoft games really often seem to have this boring pattern, it seems like there's a lot to do but very little motivation to do it all unless you're someone who just has to complete everything.

  • RingoRingo He/Him a distinct lack of substanceRegistered User regular
    Unless the bad guys are all revealed to be USA trained and/or funded, I'm not really interested in what Ubisoft has to say about Latin American dictatorships

    Sterica wrote: »
    I know my last visit to my grandpa on his deathbed was to find out how the whole Nazi werewolf thing turned out.
    Edcrab's Exigency RPG
  • DjiemDjiem Registered User regular
    If the email was honest it'd add up the hours played of Farcry 4, 5 and 6 since they're all the same game.

  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    The messaging and execution of this email campaign fail very hard. But to me, the tone and perspective don't say "dont' forget to play our game." All of the emails are from the perspective of the Villain. El Presidente or whoever. And he's trying to use a player's game stats against them, to taunt them. I think this is just a customer engagement campaign, bordering on augmented reality, but it has gone horribly wrong. It sounds like their marketing had this idea that they'd send out email blasts to their players from the perspective of the villain, taunting them, and everyone would love it because it immerses them in the game world.

    Anyway. The idea failed horribly. But I don't think it's a desperate cry for people to play their game. I think it's just a very poorly executed attempt at AR.

  • OctoberRavenOctoberRaven Plays fighting games for the story Skyeline Hotel Apartment 4ARegistered User regular
    I get these for MK11. Despite having never played online, I somehow end up in the top 5% in weekly rankings.

    Currently Most Hype For: VTMB2, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Alan Wake 2 (Wake Harder)Currently Playin: Guilty Gear XX AC+R, Gat Out Of Hell
  • Anon von ZilchAnon von Zilch Registered User regular
    So here's my question: why does Ubisoft care? They've already been paid, what do they gain from people actually playing the game?

  • PyrianPyrian Registered User regular
    So here's my question: why does Ubisoft care? They've already been paid, what do they gain from people actually playing the game?

    There's an in-game store for real money.

  • GrendusGrendus Registered User regular
    Zenigata wrote: »
    The last Far Cry I found interesting was 2. They just got so repetitive and boring after that. Ubisoft games really often seem to have this boring pattern, it seems like there's a lot to do but very little motivation to do it all unless you're someone who just has to complete everything.

    Far Cry 3 had Va'as who was a pretty compelling villain, and the wingsuit was a lot of fun. And Far Cry: Blood Dragon was just straight up awesome. I knew it was repetitive, and I didn't care because sending 80's neon dragons to destroy enemy bases was sick.

    I'm also one of those weird people that actually enjoyed Far Cry Primal. Only played about half of it before I got bored, but that was still a good 40-60 hours.

  • CristovalCristoval Registered User regular
    Farcry 2 was such a great experience and made all the better by the lack of a map fucking and all the jank that came with it. Assassins Creed really did a number on open world video game design...

  • Radiated RoninRadiated Ronin Registered User regular
    edited October 2021
    Well, the Ubisoft stock has been declining steadily for about a year now. Maybe they will finally get the hint and stop trying to milk the "get all the blinking things on the map" genre for all it's worth. I feel like everything since AssFlag has been doing chores for achievements. I have plenty of chores to do in real life, Ubi, I don't need to pay you for more. Frankly, I have paid YOU enough at this point that you need to come help me clean my garage this weekend. Don't worry, every 20-30 minutes I will make the 'achievement noise' and make you feel like this work is a game.

    You got the tools organized? Blink! 20 GS - You Are a Tool!

    Radiated Ronin on
  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    Ringo wrote: »
    Unless the bad guys are all revealed to be USA trained and/or funded, I'm not really interested in what Ubisoft has to say about Latin American dictatorships

    seriously, at least THE Suicide Squad figured that part out

  • Andy JoeAndy Joe We claim the land for the highlord! The AdirondacksRegistered User regular
    So here's my question: why does Ubisoft care? They've already been paid, what do they gain from people actually playing the game?

    Player metrics. High engagement levels can be shown off to stockholders, investors, and business partners to demonstrate that people who bought the game like playing it a lot and are therefore likely to purchase future games in the same series or of a similar style.

    XBL: Stealth Crane PSN: ajpet12 3DS: 1160-9999-5810 NNID: StealthCrane Pokemon Scarlet Name: Carmen
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    edited October 2021
    So here's my question: why does Ubisoft care? They've already been paid, what do they gain from people actually playing the game?

    Pyrian wrote: »
    There's an in-game store for real money.
    Andy Joe wrote: »
    Player metrics. High engagement levels can be shown off to stockholders, investors, and business partners to demonstrate that people who bought the game like playing it a lot and are therefore likely to purchase future games in the same series or of a similar style.

    Afraid I'm going to have to go with Answer #1.
    Far Cry 6 features an in-game store available from the main menu and from the pause menu that has items in the following categories:

    Credits – These are the basic currency you spend on all the Far Cry 6 microtransactions
    Cosmetic armor skins – This is the core of the cosmetic system in the game. Armor sets from other Ubisoft games are all over the place in this section. Players can also buy bundles of armor skins.
    Weapon charms – If you want a glittery bauble on your gun, these are for you.
    Guns – Guns and other equipment are a core part of the game in a shooter, and of course Ubisoft is just straight up selling OP weapons.
    Transport – This category is literally just all the in-game vehicles. You could find them in the game in some cases, or buy them directly.
    Utilities – This section is where you will find all the timesavers for hidden items. New songs, base upgrades and more can be bought here.

    https://www.iskmogul.com/far-cry-6-has-microtransactions-because-of-course-it-does/

    They wouldn't give a shit if you never bought another game ever again and just gave them your entire bank balance every month while spending 0 hours on any of their existing games. It's all about the cash funnel.


    See also:
    https://www.smartrecruiters.com/Ubisoft2/743999778478744-monetization-specialist?trid=4d32c519-f437-439a-ab4f-b3953c48d5c1

    dennis on
  • KaitensatsumaKaitensatsuma Registered User regular
    Now, Yahtzee reaming on them was expected.

    Penny Arcade reaming on them this badly? *less so*

  • RatherDashing89RatherDashing89 Registered User regular
    If I understand correctly, the game has a "peace I'm outta here" fake ending after the first chapter. Does this email go to people who did that? Or did it just go out to everyone? The former would be somewhat clever, if poorly executed.

  • KaitensatsumaKaitensatsuma Registered User regular
    If I understand correctly, the game has a "peace I'm outta here" fake ending after the first chapter

    That was an interesting twist the first time - one that you weren't likely to run into easily.

    It wasn't interesting the second time where it was literally a button prompt, and then later 3 Region bosses later another choice, and as I understand it the third time the character was trying to leave anyways, so why would they stay, speaking in terms of character motivation?

  • el_vicioel_vicio Registered User regular
    what's the animal cruelty minigame

    ouxsemmi8rm9.png

  • RingoRingo He/Him a distinct lack of substanceRegistered User regular
    el_vicio wrote: »
    what's the animal cruelty minigame

    Cockfighting, mortal kombat style, apparently

    Sterica wrote: »
    I know my last visit to my grandpa on his deathbed was to find out how the whole Nazi werewolf thing turned out.
    Edcrab's Exigency RPG
  • doompookydoompooky Wild (Let's Draw A) Horses Couldn't Drag Me AwayRegistered User regular
    There are multiple mechanics in this game that make me feel like I'm not much better than the bad guys, and I'm like... 90% positive it's entirely unintentional

    we7ek91hy97o.png
  • RingoRingo He/Him a distinct lack of substanceRegistered User regular
    Please divulge, I am always agog at hearing what they put in the latest Farcry

    Sterica wrote: »
    I know my last visit to my grandpa on his deathbed was to find out how the whole Nazi werewolf thing turned out.
    Edcrab's Exigency RPG
  • doompookydoompooky Wild (Let's Draw A) Horses Couldn't Drag Me AwayRegistered User regular
    edited October 2021
    No real story spoilers, potential mechanics and minigame spoilers
    The cockfighting is obviously weird. I can't think of a single reason other than shock value to put that kind of facade on a rock paper scissor fighting game, but there are other choices I don't quite get. There are these "Bandido Missions" where you gamble certain resources, including volunteer lives, for other resources. It is incredibly easy to forget that you're ostensibly commanding living people. Just sending them to their, deaths possibly by the dozen, for gasoline. These missions all have little story beats, where you can among others order political assassinations, burn the entire flock of a bird farmer to death, celebrate "minimal civilian casualties" in operations you started. An NPC tech tree is opened up by distracting enemies with a cute dog. Shooting a person you just saw gush over a cutie pie puppy will leave you feeling like crap. Ditto to the soldier I saw playing by himself on a playground. When you commandeer a civilian's vehicle, I've heard the driver sob and say "fine, just leave it somewhere I can find it okay."

    None of these feel intentional, I feel like I'm supposed to be yoloing jetskis and yeeting molotovs and doing bong rips off of mounted .50 cals like MTV is paying for spring break

    doompooky on
    we7ek91hy97o.png
  • KaitensatsumaKaitensatsuma Registered User regular
    edited October 2021
    doompooky wrote: »

    None of these feel intentional, I feel like I'm supposed to be yoloing jetskis and yeeting molotovs and doing bong rips off of mounted .50 cals like MTV is paying for spring break

    So the gameplay team and the storyboarding team basically got locked in two separate rooms: One was making a game where you played a culturally appropriate Jason Brody, the other was writing a game where you saw the horrors of revolution as Not Che Guevara in Not Cuba during Not the Cuban Revolution?

    *add - I just did a bit of googling and it seems that I hit the nail dead on the head and Yara is basically based on Cuba. I guess Ubisoft thought they took it a bit too far last time, telling a story of extremism and cults in Good Old Montana and decided to go back to appealing to the Jason Brody's of the world. Neat.

    Kaitensatsuma on
  • doompookydoompooky Wild (Let's Draw A) Horses Couldn't Drag Me AwayRegistered User regular
    edited October 2021
    Yara is so NotCuba that in
    a museum,
    it uses the Dewey Decimal System for History of Yara as History: North America, Caribbean, Cuba.

    edit
    PS thpoilerz for @Ringo re their comment (other readers welcome)
    Yara is weaponizing their ample tobacco crop to produce a biological weapon to sell to rich nations, and there are some hints at class consciousness, but that's all story related and I'm not very far

    doompooky on
    we7ek91hy97o.png
  • Armored ChocoboArmored Chocobo Registered User regular
    edited October 2021
    Far Cry 6's society supports cock-fighting, sounds to me they totally deserve that bloodthirsty dictator. I'll spend my energies saving folks that have a soul.

    Armored Chocobo on
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    edited October 2021
    Far Cry 6's society supports cock-fighting, sounds to me they totally deserve that bloodthirsty dictator. I'll spend my energies saving folks that have a soul.

    It was legal in the US (specific states) up until about 4 years ago. And it still happens illegally (so the "society" could be said to support it).

    That's not to in any way endorse cockfighting or the support of it. It's just something a lot of people might not realize.

    I will say, though, that "society" is never a monolith. As wikipedia notes about the 1933 election, "In spite of massive violence and voter intimidation, the Nazis won only 43.9% of the vote, rather than the majority that he had expected." Power is often seized by a minority. Much like one of our most odious recent leaders only won power with much fewer votes than his rival.

    dennis on
  • AegeriAegeri Tiny wee bacteriums Plateau of LengRegistered User regular
    I saw a hilarious video review of Far Cry 6 that actually put side/side comparisons to previous games and it was pretty sad. Like here is the mission you shoot people while high on drugs. Here is the hallucination mission. Here is the climb a tower etc. If they actually put all of this into something with an interesting or compelling story I might be interested, but they can't even manage to do that with some very obvious targets (like the Far Right White Nationalism of Far Cry 5).

    The Roleplayer's Guild: My blog for roleplaying games, advice and adventuring.
  • KaitensatsumaKaitensatsuma Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    Aegeri wrote: »
    Like here is the mission you shoot people while high on drugs. Here is the hallucination mission. Here is the climb a tower etc.

    Wasn't the Whole joke from FC5 that they weren't going to be doing those anymore?
    Aegeri wrote: »
    they can't even manage to do that with some very obvious targets (like the Far Right White Nationalism of Far Cry 5).

    Actually, and it might be more interesting, but the Seed cult was surprisingly inclusive for what they were supposed to be representing (Whether this was on accident or deliberate for company attorney suggested reasons is a good question) - But when you look more broadly Far Cry 5 pitted cultist against similarly head-fucked Sovereign Citizens and Paranoid Preppers who are essentially Provided a windfall and proven right with their underground bunkers and weapons caches, it's just they probably weren't expecting Ol' Joe Seed, and were instead expecting Uncle Sam 🤷‍♂️

    Like, your first contact after the intro is a guy who built out his own nuclear bunker and drove his family away after trying to teach his 5 year old grand son about nuclear holocaust and how to shoot, and there are a bunch of other characters/locations with similar characters and they're painted in a positive light 😄

    Kaitensatsuma on
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