Is Far Cry considered a hard game?

[Teggy]

Bought this on the steam sale during xmas and loaded it up last night. My mouse wasn't on a smooth surface, so my aim was off at times, but regardless, I was dying a ton. They sort of make a big deal about using stealth at the beginning of the game, but then they force you into a lot of areas where you really have to run and gun (driving the Jeep at the beginning, making your way through the carrier at the beginning). There's some health packs, but I only ran across one body armor at the very start and haven't seen any more. I am playing on medium, should I drop down to the easy level?

[Greg Wak]

Funny, I first thought of FC2 and I was thinkling,no, not too tough. Far Cry on the other hand, was rather hard for me. I did die and reload a lot. Then, when it takes a twist 2/3rds or so into the game, it gets really hard. Some people found the last big set piece darn near impossible. I must have gotten lucky because I got through it okay.

[CeeKay]

I remember it being a bit on the hard side and having to use cover and stealth a bit more than usual at the time I played the game.  I do think the carrier section is a bit more towards the middle of the game, not long after things get.... 'interesting'.

[Teggy]

If the carrier section is the middle of the game, it must be really short! You must be thinking of a different part. I swam across a short way and entered into what my radio contact called a carrier through a hole in the hull. This was right near the start of the game.

[Scraper]

It's hard but not impossible. Definitely harder than most shooters.

[Teggy]

OK, maybe I will back down to the "stroll through the jungle" difficulty. I can't imagine what "realistic" is like.

[Giles Habibula]

If the carrier section is the middle of the game, it must be really short! You must be thinking of a different part. I swam across a short way and entered into what my radio contact called a carrier through a hole in the hull. This was right near the start of the game.

Yeah, the carrier is right at the beginning.
I vividly remember being all excited when I discovered I could get there by first flying a jeep into the air over the water. It was immediately after the training mission.

[warning]

It was a difficult game.  It got even more difficult once you get to the 2nd type of enemy (not spoiling anything here).  I stopped around that part and felt pretty good about being done with it.

It was also difficult because it didn't have regular saves or even quicksaves without entering console commands.  So you had this amazing, wide-open island with lots of possibilities for trying out different strategies but the lack of normal saves meant that was pretty much wasted for me.

Far Cry 2, though it also has its faults, is a much better game.

[CeeKay]

Huh, I could have sworn the carrier was further into the game. Maybe I'm misrenembering, I quit playing after a certain point in the game.

[Kestrel]

Yes, it is a hard game, but the game is manageable when you are stealthy after first contact. Do everything you can to have cover nearby before initiating action. Try "gun and disappear".

I still died a lot, but I don't like the game to be too easy.

[tok]

If you are careful to use cover and move slowly, most of the game isn't overly difficult. If you are getting stuck doing something over and over, look for an alternate solution. There are quite a few.
There are what I consider to be a couple of very frustrating "choke points" in the game.

Spoiler for Hiden:

The spot where you battle the cowboy hat dude in the helicopter when you're on the sinking ship.
There is a spot in the end labs where tons of soldiers pour into a room with mirrored floors.
The Volcano at the end is brutal if you are low on ammo

I've played through the game about 3 or 4 times and these are the spots I usually have to try a few times.

[ScubaV]

I didn't find it especially hard.  I found it appropriately challenging on medium for my first play-through and then had fun on the 2nd hardest difficulty for my second play-through.  I tried realistic and did pretty well, but climbing out the top of the carrier was impossible as I usually got gunned down before I could even move off the ladder.  I'm pretty good at shooters, but definitely no pro. 

[Caine]

still have very fond memories of fc1.  even though i enjoyed the sequel, it doesn't match the great mix of gameplay in the first one.  i also think you really need to play up past the introduction of the 2nd enemy to a mission where you emerge from a facility into the starry night and see the mercs fighting the 'others', and your only goal is to get as far away from it as possible.  one of the greatest levels in any shooter imo. 

you really got a good variety of shooter genres in fc1 depending on who you fight and where. 

[CeeKay]

if you want a real challenge try sitting through the movie by Uwe Boll 

[Kagath]

There are what I consider to be a couple of very frustrating "choke points" in the game.
...spoiled stuff...

There is another one I can think of I had some trouble with:

Spoiler for Hiden:

dropping out of a vent to find a cluster of enemies in an enclosed space with limited ammo and getting dropped on a cliff

[cheeba]

The ending was brutal for me. And I tend to be pretty good with shooters.

[Giles Habibula]

The ending was brutal for me. And I tend to be pretty good with shooters.

The volcano? Yep, that's where I quit and never did finish.

[Teggy]

LOL, I had to necro this thread because I decided to start up FC1 again and I didn't remember all these responses saying how hard the game was.

I have gotten a lot farther than I did the first time I tried, but man is this game unforgiving! I just finished off a spot where I need to meet my contact at the docks, and I would get pretty close and then suddenly explode. Figured out that there was a guy on a perch way way far off shooting rockets at me. WTF? Took care of him first next time and then I was able to get it done.

We'll see how far I manage to get this time. Still playing on medium.

[dangerballs]

The game is pretty difficult, the console rehashes are a little easier, but the PC version is a great game with some very frustrating sequences.

The last section (the volcano) is definitely one of the toughest levels in PC gaming history even on easy.  There is a slight exploit using a chair that can help a bit, but still absolutely brutal.

[Teggy]

Good to know - I'll have to think about what to do when things start getting tough. I'm on chapter 8/20 based on a guide.

Amazing that this was such a system killer back when. When I first ran it, vsync wasn't working and I was getting over 1000 FPS and my gpus started to heat up

What is up with the horrible VO on the main character? Did they do that on purpose?

[Laner]

It gets ridiculous near the end.  I had to finish using godmode, and even then it was hard.

[kronovan]

From my memories, the 1st games was opposite of FC2. In the sequel once you get the camo suit the game got quite easy, but challenging at 1st. Whereas with the 1st game I was fine for the 1st few hours, but it just got incrementally more difficult as the story advanced. I played the 1st on PC and FC2 on 360, so that might have had something to do with it.

[Teggy]

Almost done with chapter 13 of 20. Have definitely hit some frustrating parts but not so bad yet that I wanted to give up. Really regretting mistakenly dropping my shotgun when I thought I was dropping my smg.

[Teggy]

Through 15 of 20. Thankfully got my shotgun back, which came in quite handy in chapter 15.

I played what has definitely been my favorite chapter so far:

Spoiler for Hiden:

I had to hop island to island taking out radio towers. A lot of fun finding the best routes in and using the patrol boats, culminating with a hang glider ride on to a ship under rocket fire.

The end of that chapter violated what I consider to be one of the cardinal rules of game design, however:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Normally helicopters take a single rocket shot to go down, but suddenly they can take 10? I spent a bunch of attempts trying to figure out if the helicopter could even be shot down or if I had to wait for the boat to start sinking to finish off the boss or what. Finally I just got a ton of rockets in to the chopper before the water even started rising.

[Teggy]

I'm in the volcano!

Spoiler for Hiden:

The mission going down the river was great. I LOLed at the agent taking an impromptu bath 

What was not great was being dropped in front of a trigen with 10 bullets and not knowing I wasn't supposed to try and kill it.

First part of the volcano level was a bitch but I kept trying things and made it through. The fight against the scientist I tried a whole bunch of things then wound up sneaking up around the desk and hitting him in the face with about 15 shotgun shells

Then I made it to the volcano. First thing I noticed was I had no idea what to do and when I stepped out I started getting rockets in my face. I found that if I stayed at the door the big dudes would come search me out, so I killed them all. Then I went into the volcano and found an elevator. Except it didn't work. And then another door opened up and a big guy came out and killed me. Then I had to go to bed.

So I have a starting point to figure it out. I haven't looked at any guides during the whole play through so I'm going to keep at it for a while before I give in.

[Teggy]

Well screw that I godmoded the last section. I don't know what they were thinking.

Last chapter aside, I really enjoyed the game. It definitely holds up really well for a near 10-year old game.

It has inspired me to pick up Crysis again. I've tried starting it a few times, but after playing Far Cry I'm thinking that maybe I was approaching the gameplay a little too much like a standard shooter and not like I did in Far Cry.