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dhex
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:56 am    Post subject: exclusively yours! Reply with quote

so i broke down and preordered far cry 2 via gamestop. i was going to buy a boxed version anyway because my misadventures with clear sky have soured me on steam and DRM'd up 3rd party games.

so apparently this comes with "extra missions" and "hours of extra content" and whatnot. no one seems to know what the extra content is just yet, or whether it's stuffing for the cutting room floor that got swept into a bag of marginal incentives. i know some of the rps commentariat is miffed about the exclusivity, but i think that's more of an obsessive thing that some folks who are heavily invested in fictional narratives get into. weird, but generally harmless to those around them.

i've generally thought of collectors editions and (direct from publisher) preordering as a kind of angel investor stance toward a developer, to reward their work. the bonuses are largely cosmetic - i don't even know if "bonus" is the correct term to use for figurines and the like - and generally incidental to any actual playing experience. the days of cloth maps are most likely over. but i've never been the recipient of a gamestop preorder, so the extra content (or "content" as my gut feeling indicates) is a new experience.

so my question, dearly invested, is this: is this a new thing, or have devs been handing out content goodies to early adopters for a while now?
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 9:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's a newer trend to encourage early sales and, more importantly, new sales, since the dlc will be attached to a console/computer.

gears 2 is doing this as well.
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Cycle
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 4:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think it's bollocks. If I'm going to buy your game, I expect a complete package, not one with shit missing or one with shit that may or may not have been better left on the cutting room floor. I'm going to go ahead and boycott this sort of nonsense and just pirate the games instead. Fuck you, consumerism!

In other news, I totally just pre-ordered Fallout 3 so I get that sweet bobblehead.
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 5:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Far Cry 2 intro.
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ryan
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I remember there being an extra mech in the copes of Heavy Gear 2 sold at Wal-Mart, back in '97 or so, and people getting really pissed. That is the first exclusive I can recall.

Most of the exclusives nowadays become available in a few months. Yoda and Darth Vader are becoming downloadable, and a lot of the Collector's Edition stuff gets released through downloads and videos online - items and a merchant in the CE of Diablo 2 was given away as a free download later, and some Fable 1 Making Of videos were put up on youtube.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Man, the only free stuff you need is a registration card. It's all electronic these days and much less fun.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 6:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used to get all kinds of fun stuff from sending in registration cards. I don't know what SNK game I owned back then, but yesterday while cleaning out some old boxes I found some Do Not Disturb signs, one for I'm Playing King of Monsters 2 and another for Art of Fighting, found some keychains too. It's also how I got my free copy of Virtua Fighter Remix for the Saturn. Now I think they just get you a bunch of spam
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dhex
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i guess i'll find out this afternoon how exclusive these exclusive missions are?

unless gamestop fucks me, i mean.
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dhex
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

man this gamestop tie in is a rigamarole and a half. only thing missing is a decoder ring and maybe some commemorative condoms.

regarding the game?

the wind whispers "xboxified"
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The copy of Stalker I bought was from GameStop, and it came with a few exclusive multiplayer maps. I don't really think they're all that exclusive considering how the game isn't really played online much, so I don't think they've ever really been used. But hey, one day I can fire it up and run around by myself in an area I've never been in.
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dhex
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

the game is now shouting, alternately, "your drive is timing out" or "please insert original disc" or "don't use a backup copy, use the original."
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 10:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Xboxified? How badly?

Sucks about the drive issues. That kind of thing is why I'll most likely be getting this on a console, ironically enough.
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dhex
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i haven't played enough to give good reasons, only an impression. there's a boxiness there.

regarding securom, well, oddly enough removing securom removed my problems.

apparently having a pioneer 109 series dvd drive is a known issue; so is having more than two hard drives. so is, apparently, wanting to do the right thing and play the game you paid for.

these are all securom issues, no longer an issue.
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dhex
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i contacted securom anyway, because i want to know why this happens. i told them straight up that cracking the game fixed my problems with it. i'm curious if i get a response or just WOOP WOOP. (probably neither)

i also have a replacement dvd drive coming (mine is slow and a bit woogy, but still fine) and while i only paid a hair over 20 bucks for it there should also be no need in the first place. ehhh. bleeehhh.

honestly even more than playing far cry 2 i wish i knew what the deal was with securom, tages and the rest of these copy protections deciding that i suddenly totally suck. crysis, which uses securom, runs fine!
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dhex
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 1:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

on a different tack: lean.

why don't cross dev shooters have leaning? leaning is good for you if you don't like getting shot. it's great for sneaking a peek. etc.
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SuperWes
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got the Xbox version. It's good! I don't really like leaning. I'd rather have a more focused design that is designed around fewer buttons.

I never played the first Far Cry though. How similar was it, structurally, to this? This seems very much like Assassin's Creed.

-Wes
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What it lacks in lean, I think it kinda makes up for in bushes. Crouching seems to be a pretty reliable tactic in the bush.

I can't tell yet if there's ever going to be people out in the wild who aren't trying to kill me. I walked up behind a guy with a rocket launcher last night, and we had this weird little moment where I thought he might be helping me ambush some dudes but actually he was just pausing to shoulder his RPG and draw a pistol. I was forced to plug him.

Also, I blew a sniper off a balcony but he left his gun behind. Dammit!

I absolutely love the environment here; overgrown estates, beautifully done light. Right now I just enjoy driving around in it.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SuperWes wrote:

I never played the first Far Cry though. How similar was it, structurally, to this?


Not at all. Far Cry has a linear plot without side missions; it's got sort of an open environment with multiple approaches toward your objective sometimes. It's also got mutants.

Far Cry 2 seems much closer to Stalker.
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dhex
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 8:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

yes this is not like the first far cry at all.

lean is good for you, wes. it is good for america.

these guys are too fucking hard to kill. maybe i should turn the crosshairs back on. or not!

also: stone cold executing people after you make them fuck over someone else is thematically fit.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dhex wrote:
these guys are too fucking hard to kill. maybe i should turn the crosshairs back on. or not!

The console version doesn't have crosshairs. You have to hold the L button to bring your scope up if you want to see exactly where you're aiming.

So I like this structure, but I kinda feel like all I've done so far is fill in the map. I've been doing the convoy destroy missions, running from safe house to safe house, looking for diamonds and revealing whatever goods I find at any of the blockades that I run into along the way. All this really amounts to is revealing icons on the map. Kind of useless. I did stumble upon a Mercenary long before I was told to rescue him. That was pretty cool.

I've heard that one big difference between the console and PC version is that you can save wherever you want on PC, but on console you've got to visit a safe house or complete a mission. This makes sense a bit, but what I don't get is what the incentive is for clearing safe houses on PC. From what I can tell the only thing in there are chests to store weapons in, and even these are totally useless until you buy access to them.

-Wes
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dhex
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 11:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

there are definitely a few holes. i am inclined to blame them on cross-dev woes but i would be, wouldn't i?
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dhex
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 9:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

hmmm...ok so the mystery deepens.

uninstalled and reinstalled far cry 2 in order to try out the manual analysis file generation thing from securom support.

lo and behold, it now works. sort of! in other words i still get disc errors, but if i relaunch it right after a disc error it usually works every third time or so.

best part: securom's manual process for generating their error file doesn't actually work on my system. i keep getting told to reinstall the game.
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm enjoying this pretty mightily. Just freeform driving around offroad is a lot of fun, loosely heading after the next objective, maybe stopping off at a safehouse or guardpost, maybe picking up a diamond or two if I notice my radar going, maybe trying to jump the buggy off some rock outcroppings. I like the way the convoys I'm supposed to find just drive around in circles- there's a lack of urgency here that's kind of compelling. I guess that may change if I run out of medicine?
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dhex
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 7:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i spent some time last night sneaking around and doing assassination missions.

i'm not entirely sure which upgrades i should get first though, as i have a stockpile (50+) of diamonds.

some of the safehouses are really nice - found one up in the mountains that seemed like a good retirement spot.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 2:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dhex wrote:
i'm not entirely sure which upgrades i should get first though, as i have a stockpile (50+) of diamonds.

I recommend buying the storage bins upgrade and the jeep fixing speed upgrade. The first, because it really breaks the immersion when you try to interact with one and are told, "you haven't bought this upgrade yet," and the second because, well, because it's really annoying to drive around, get shot a few times, spend a minute repairing your jeep, jump back in, get shot, and do the whole thing over again.

I also like shooting people with the flare pistol.

-Wes
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dhex
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 2:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

do they explode into many bits of fire?
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 1:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The dart rifle is great, it's silent and it kills in one hit.
You can only care five darts for it though. Odd considering that you carry 18 grenades for the MGL.
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dhex
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

hmm...i will go shopping tonight if i get a chance to play again.

i will say that coming to this after crysis warhead, the combat is annoying. and not because of a lack of super-soldiering, but because it seems kind of arbitrary, especially in the stealth aspects.

hell, the original crysis, with the docks segment...there was so many ways to approach that. underground. overground. sneaking in. starting a riot outside and sneaking around the distraction. etc. even the respawning was gentle and thematic, for the most part. (fucking helicopters)

again, i am inclined to blame cross-platform development, but that doesn't explain clear sky... Sad
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dhex wrote:
do they explode into many bits of fire?

The people don't, but it does seem to kill in one hit, and even if you miss the flames usually catch stuff on fire, making for an environment that looks like there was a fight going on when everything's over.

-Wes
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