Ultor Exposed DLC is now available on XBL, but so far no mention on Major Nelson

I find it very difficult to play this game as a good character.  So many of the npcs just "beg" to be punished.

Ah, good timing for my comment. Yesterday I played through the "Sister Hammer" quest and then went back to town and did some buying and impressing the citizens and... well, I was starting to get bored.

Then I got notification that my wife was *still* trying to divorce me. I had quit paying her support when I realized what a drag she was going to be to my career and she had been threatening divorce for quite a while. So I warped to the gypsy camp and as I arrived at the entrance she was walking out, saying something about never seeing me again. I realized she still had my ring and so I shot her. Didn't get the ring back, but did get the sheriff and his boys after me. So I killed them. And then everyone in the camp (except the kids, natch). And then when I left the camp I killed everyone I could find on the gypsy camp map.

I went back to Bowerstone and while I was completely evil, everyone still oo'ed and ah'ed over me, especially when I farted  . Somehow I don't think this is how things should be.

[Spoiler]

One thing I didn't do this time was leave the vault with the dog. I guess I'd have to play at least one more time to see what all the deal is with Dogmeat.

Not sure if you meant this or not, but . . .

Spoiler for Hiden:

Dogmeat isn't in the vault where you start.  He's available at a different location, one that is not part of the main quest or any of the named side quests.

Well, that's good to know!

ShackNews has a big Broken Steel preview.  May 5th is the release date -
http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=1114

Sweet, I am going on vacation next week and this will be something nice to have when I get back. I stopped reading the article at the point where they mentioned spoilers, so as to allow myself to be surprised.

I have avoided doing "The Pitt" DLC since I'm at level nineteen, but maybe I'll jump into it to get it out of the way.

I'm still on my first playthrough, btw. Are there other folks still working their first F3 life? One thing I didn't do this time was leave the vault with the dog. I guess I'd have to play at least one more time to see what all the deal is with Dogmeat.

Questions... is there a list of all the properties I own? And is there a way to get to a house I own (not rent) so I can sleep in it? Can they be displayed on the map?

Ok, Pete and others, you convinced me to pick up this game. I was a bit put off during "Childhood" but now I'm out in the world as an adult and exploring. Found my first condom, that ought to do me some good, I'm going to put it over the muzzle of my gun to keep out the dirt... that's what it's best for, right?

Count me among those that have fallen victim to the Far Cry 2 bug. 62% complex too, dammit.

It's been quiet on this game for a couple of weeks. Any further impressions?

[Spoiler]

Hey! Something happened to the safe houses on the southern map!

Spoiler for Hiden:

I just arrived at a couple of them I previously unlocked. They were still unlocked, but they had guards again! Since they weren't relocked, I'm assuming this isn't a bug but a feature to make it that much harder. I'm playing Hardcore difficulty, does that change anything? I guess I don't mind, it's part of the challenge. I had been taking safe houses for granted.

Turns out the two safe houses I found that re-acquired guards were the only two. I think one is because of it's location. Anyway, no big deal.

I've now gotten in about 33 hours of gameplay on Far Cry 2. Twenty out of thirty-three main missions complete with roughly the same ratio of side quest missions. Oddly enough even though I'm playing Hardcore difficulty I haven't died in quite a while; the three times I should have died recently my "buddy" came in to save me. It's an effective game device; I wouldn't have the buddy unless I've saved him or her after doing a mission for them.

I'm thinking this game is reflecting my personality perhaps a big more than I might feel comfortable explaining to my non-gaming acquaintances. I'm a loner, moving at my own pace. I do the missions I want, go where I want, explore at my own discretion. I enjoy the solitude, the grand vistas, but also driving like a maniac across the countryside. Oh, and gunning down practically everyone I see.

[Spoiler]

Hey! Something happened to the safe houses on the southern map!

Spoiler for Hiden:

I just arrived at a couple of them I previously unlocked. They were still unlocked, but they had guards again! Since they weren't relocked, I'm assuming this isn't a bug but a feature to make it that much harder. I'm playing Hardcore difficulty, does that change anything? I guess I don't mind, it's part of the challenge. I had been taking safe houses for granted.

Crap, now I want to play Fable 2  .

I understand there is DLC for this game. Worth getting for my first play-through or just something I might want to invest in later on?

I gave up playing the game this weekend. Still hadn't found my Bruiser. Constantly responding to attacks on my rackets, wish I could just automate sending a "fire brigade" of goons to deal with each attack. The deal breaker was one of those "favor" missions where I was supposed to go whack a guy who from what I could tell on the 3D map was on top of a hotel. I went to the location, wandered around and around, but couldn't find a way into the hotel or up the outside. Finally got tired of all these idiot little bugs.

I got in a few more hours this weekend on the game, up to 52% complete. The southern map continues to impress me. It is significantly more difficulty than the northern, first map. There's one gun shop, a favorite place to stop, save and reload, that turns out to be right on a patrol route. Better watch your step when you wander around!

The same is also true for at least one safe house. Happily you can hear the patrol coming, but you'd better have planned your hiding spots in advance.

Also ramping up the difficulty is the lack of reloads at most safe houses. To compensate for that some safe houses don't require an initial capturing. However, for those that do, you need to think about your ammo levels.

The missions have been more complex and diverse than on the northern map. At least one (so far) could be completed without firing a shot, if you are stealthy enough. None have been overly difficult, but you can't win by simple run and gun tactics.

And there are many graphical differences on the southern map. Huts are different, the terrain is more extreme, and I think there even might be more animals.

Glad I went back and tried the game again.

I've now gotten in about eight hours and have reached one of those #%%$%^%% situations.

I was notified that I had an open slot for a made man. I already had a medic, demo man, arsonist, and my best man is both a safecracker and engineer. So I was looking for a Bruiser. I remember seeing one early on, but couldn't remember where. So I started visiting my rackets and compounds. ALL OF THEM. And I couldn't find a Bruiser type. It's really irritating that I personally have to visit each location. I'm a big admirer of Sid Meiers and one of his tenets is that you should provide players with interesting decisions. There's nothing interesting about having to go from place to place to place. Am I missing some trick or overlay? There damn well should be one if there's not.

Otherwise the game is just ok. After eight hours I'm starting to burn out on the repetition. There are mainline missions that are interesting, but not interesting enough to compensate for the above dumbness.

I've got five hours in and have been in Miami a while, and even when back to NYC to take care of some business  . While the cities might seem smaller, there are a lot of locations to bomb, attack, defend and visit to rob, sabotage or kill or rough up someone.

I think the graphics are worse than GF1, but then I played that on the PC. But graphics don't make the game and here they are just different, they don't degrade the gameplay.

I got tired in GF1 (but still completed the game) of the repetitious feel of my activities. At least in GF2 I can send my boys to do some of the grunt work.

I'm not sure that this is a 5/10 game, but I think that maybe it's a 7/10. Some parts are fun, but it's going to get a little dull after a few hours. It's really more like a business sim with gangsters. You get monopolies, you force the competitor's individual firms out of business, then you weaken him before going for the kill. This isn't GTA with a string of missions, it's more free form.

I think the biggest problem people will have is that after a while you just seem to be going through the motions of taking over businesses and attacking your opponent's places and people. It's like a WoW grind; eventually you will level up, but it's just a lot of work till then. That's why I think the Don's View and sending out your henchmen to do the dirty work makes sense, it keeps you from spending a lot of time doing the same tasks yourself.

[Spoiler]

Question, where do I get ammo for my tommy gun in New York? I run out all the time and I haven't seen an AmmuNation store anywhere 

There are no ammo stores.  It is all stored for free in your safe house, scavenged from those who were trying to kill you, or some of the businesses will have a weapons cache in them.

Yup, as I completed missions there are more weapons available. I've now completed the New York portion, took 3:41. Actually had more fun with it this afternoon than I thought I would. There are some bugs; I find people with the key over their heads from whom I get missions which unlock the kill method of an enemy, but after doing their job I get a message about the contract being unable to be fulfilled. That's understandable, I had already unlocked all the kill methods, but it was odd that the key symbol kept showing up. Then there is the bug where I can get cash missions to rob a safe, except that I've already robbed that safe and so I can't fulfill the mission. Maybe this all works better in Miami.

Also I was never able to kill one of the henchmen...

Spoiler for Hiden:

The kill method was to use a pistol, but every time I used a pistol the guy would just go back to recovering, not permanently dead. Maybe it's because I'm supposed to "execute" him with the pistol, but I couldn't figure out how to do that.

Still, it was lots of fun and there was plenty to do. And once I figured out how to use my weapons better I did darn good in all my attacks.

Question, where do I get ammo for my tommy gun in New York? I run out all the time and I haven't seen an AmmuNation store anywhere 

I only got in about three hours, but while I'm not turned off by the game, it doesn't feel that much like *fun*. The mainline missions haven't been as entertaining as say the ones in Saints Row 2. However, it's early in the game and I haven't even gotten to Miami, so maybe things will pick up.

I noticed that one of the comments to a Kotaku article about this subject came from someone who was able to complete the game in spite of a problem. The game would freeze up if he took a certainly path to an objective, so as he said, "I took the long way around" and was able to complete the mission and the game. So maybe there's hope.

I got past the 27% bug I guess, I'm now at about 47%. Damn, it might be awhile before I get to 62%. Well, I'm enjoying the game and have been keeping the past six saves, maybe I'll double that. With any luck the update will arrive before the dreaded 62%.

How is the framerate? I don't need the most detailed graphics ever so long as the framerate is rock-solid.

Haven't seen any issues,  but then the draw distances aren't very long.

Holy smokes, I tried MP. You talk about one shot one kill!!! Shotguns and sniper rifles are deadly at their respective ranges. It's all rather run and gun, but with weapons so deadly there is some motivation to ambush if possible.

I've played for an hour of game time and I can stay that if you liked the first one, you'll like the second one for some of the same reasons. You're running a business, you take over the other guy's locations, you defend your own. The Don's View is a nice idea, once you have played for awhile and the tutorials have introduced you to many of the features. After an hour the game is still introducing new concepts to me. There's more depth to the game that you might think.

Graphics are a bit ugly, especially after playing Far Cry 2 for awhile. They are serviceable. I'm in New York right now, which is very small compared to GF1, but I think this is due to it being part of the learning phase.

The manual is appalling small, but I guess that's the trend nowadays. If I like the game I might have to invest in the guide. Is there a decent online source for the game yet? I'm not looking for cheats or walkthroughs, just maybe some discussion about money making. Honestly though, it's pretty straight forward on what to do.

And when I finally took out the ambushing party (I thought I was supposed to be the ambushing party, not the other way around) I was then run down by a jeep that came out of nowhere behind me. 

That's two things I don't like about this game.  I was stalking a safehouse once and I sniped one of the guards from miles away.  The others starting running about but clearly didn't have a clue where I was.  I thought I had plenty of time to shift position and carefully plan the next shot, when suddenly a jeep came out of nowhere behind me.  I just had enough time to turn around and see it before it hit me and I was dead...

...which brings me to the second thing I hate.  Twenty second bloody loading times every time you die.  This is one game I wish I'd played on the PC instead of a console.

Hmm, I guess those are some issues that don't bother me. Regarding the latter, I don't die very often, so the loading time isn't a problem. Not bragging, just I try to avoid dying. If you are dying enough that load times are an issue, you might want to re-evaluate your approach.

Regarding the former, I figure that it's just a way in which it's dangerous out there. Enemy vehicles will come up the approach roads, so I stay clear of them. And also I figure that once the enemy is alerted, they are calling on the radio for backup, so it's only a matter of time before the cavalry shows up.

I like the visuals and I can see the game's potential, but I am also seeing what many have said about the game starting rather slowly... 

Yes, the early missions aren't all that interesting. However, it's a good time to learn what you can and can't get away with in the game.

Here's a question about night and day.  How do you check at any given moment what time it is?  Sometimes I'd like to know how long I have to wait for nightfall, or if it's early morning, mid afternooon, or near dusk, but it seems the only way I can check the time is when I rest in a safehouse and the watch appears.  I also don't think the watch is very intuitive.  When it comes up, does it show what time it is at that moment, does it show a default number of hours later as part of the saving system (similar to the wait feature in Oblivion, which seemed to default to a certain number of hours)?  Also, when it's 6:45 how can I tell if it is AM or PM?  I'm struggling with figuring out what the hell time it is. 

I don't know of any other way to see the watch other than next to a bed. It shows the current time on the face and outer ring adjustment lets you select the number of hours you wish to rest. The default rest time is one hour. You can turn it back that hour and so not rest at all, or turn it forward to get a full twelve hours of rest. As to whether it's AM or PM, you just have to go by the outside conditions. Sunset isn't till later in the evening and it starts getting light about 6am.

Is it always best to wait until nightfall to complete a mission?  Are guards much less likely to see you in the brush after dark?  I've found that during the day, if I run into the bushes and break lines of sight they still know exactly where I am.  I'm hoping that when the sun goes down the advantage goes to me for a change. 

From the guide and what I've read, plus personal observations in-game, night time is the right time  . Guards not only can't see you as well, they also tend to hang around near their fire rather than wandering around.

That being said, the daytime is fun because the scenery is great to look at. Also you can spot the enemy from farther away, so if you wish to trek cross country it's a lot safer. And remember to keep your GPS on, so you can look for diamonds.

I feel like I'm still going through the learning stages at the moment, but hopefully after I get a few missions under my belt and things pick up I'll get exposed to more of the game's depth.  Right now it has been a struggled just figuring out what is going on, what I'm supposed to be doing, or even what time it is. 

It does get better, my gameplay over the past four days can attest to that. The missions that start off the southern half of the map are more interesting and varied. Also, and it's not a spoiler since the little paper map shows this, the southern half includes a large lake which nicely alters the terrain.

Far Cry 2 is one of those games that become more enjoyable if you role play a bit, rather than sticking to the missions one after another. I made a specific effort to wander through passes and valleys that weren't on the line between quest points. I also tried to attack every checkpoint that was reasonably near my route of travel. They are laid out in many different ways so no single method of approach works for all. Also be sure to try out all the different weapons you can. You don't always have to buy them, sometimes they get left in your safe house, sometimes you can pick them up from a dead soldier. Between defeating check points, unlocking safe houses and locating the diamond suitcases you'll get to cover pretty much every bit of the terrain.

Godfather II for sure.

[Spoiler]

Wow you weren't kidding about the southern half being tougher. It seems like the first couple of safe houses had extra guards or jeep patrols. And I got slammed from one mission to the next to the next. I did step the difficulty down from Hardcore to Normal.

And then there was fun threesome of missions:

First the barge escort mission

Spoiler for Hiden:

I replayed this over and over until I got smart and figured out that the biggest threat was the clown with the RPG across the water and so I concentrated on using the Carl Gustav on him. Plus I was running like a manic from one fixed gun to another taking out enemy boats. A mission so very different from any in the northern half.

And then the guy sends me to talk to the doc in the clinic. How dangerous can that be?

Spoiler for Hiden:

And of course hell breaks loose outside. So I grab a syringe, save the game and head to the front door. No, Nurse Ratchet says, go out the back. So I do that, over and over. And over and over. Getting killed over and over. So finally I decide to ignore the nurse and run out the front. Neither looking left nor right, I blast across the street, through an alley, over a fence, and damn, no more soldiers. I grab a Jeep and head outta town.

Now my friend the barge captain needs my help again, over at the marina.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Of course it's way over on the other side of the lake. I tried driving around the lake and die a couple of times. So that's not a really good option. So I drive down the coast and grab a boat and head across the water. And I run into every damn enemy boat out there. I manage to outrun all of them, get to the marina, but everyone shoots at me and I die. Again.

OK, now I'm pissed. So when I once again reload the save mission which has me driving south from the town, I pause and think. And then it occurs to me that there's a bus stop at the town, and a bus stop near the marina. OK, not riding in guns blazing, but it's good for the planet! So I ride the bus over to the marina and get out and walk over to a cliff overlooking the marina, which is in a middle of a firefight. Two Carl Gustavs kill off the bad guys and I wander down to the barge. Mission accomplished. 

So I think I might have to hold off on Godfather II till I finish Far Cry 2. Yup, it's that much fun.

Played several more hours this weekend, now up to 27% complete. I'm *so* glad I gave this game another try. It satisfies my inner need to play a first person shooter that's not on rails and has great scenery. Sort of like playing Fallout 3 without all that pesky inventory management 

I went ahead and bought the DLC for the game. Since I don't play Far Cry 2 MP (as of yet), basically I'm just using the two vehicles and three new weapons. The new weapons are available in your private room at the gun dealer locations. They are free and always available, which is good. As mentioned there's a cut down double barrel shotgun that goes in your pistol slot, a silenced shotgun that goes in the main gun slot, and (my favorite) an explosives firing cross-bow that goes into the special weapon slot.

The two new vehicles show up in only a few locations on the map. One is a big four wheel drive truck with machine gun, which goes better cross-country. The other is a four wheel ATV and it's great. With no windshield or dash to get in the way it makes negotiating rough terrain a lot easier.

I've learned to accept that trying to blow through a roadblock will usually end up with me being pursued, so either I go around and bypass the problem, or I zip through then jump up to the MG while the vehicles coasts and take out my pursuers. Then I take their vehicle 

I've gone back to hardcore mode since normal was getting to be too easy. I really like the AI, they can and do surprise you by fanning out and trying to outflank you. You can't simply stay put and fight it out, you have to move and shoot, shoot and move.

I've gotten plenty of play out of the game and I've still not unlocked the south half of the map. Cool. 

IF you ever played Gangsters 1 or 2 this is the 3D version of that game.  

The changes they made to the second one kinda turned me off, but I liked Gangsters 1. If it's that kind of gameplay then I'll be pretty happy. Gangsters was fun in the way you ran your empire as a business venture, with goons and hit men. I'm a sick puppy, sure I am... 

That's my dilemma too. Problem is- as best as I can surmise- I'm only about half way through the mainquest, have hit level 20- and if I finish it off to see the original ending, I'll waste oodles of XP.

I went through to the original ending to see it, then went back to a saved game and continued exploring. I'm kinda in the same boat, at level 20 and if there's going to be a lifting of the level cap, then I'm thinking I don't want to waste the XPs as well.

I did get motivated and gave it a go this afternoon. Holy smokes, didn't realize I was only 16% done. My next mission was getting something from the Fort, and since I wasn't in the mood to pussyfoot I attacked in daylight, with a rusty rifle. I barely survived  . Lots of fun though.

Cripes, "The Pitt" DLC still having problems? I downloaded it, again, but I'm afraid to go there and risk locking up the game. I guess I'll have to wait some more.

I quit playing FC2 because of the giant rush of games that came out in October and November. I've tried to start it again, but it does take some concentration on relearning the control scheme and just basically figuring out what the hell you need to be doing.

I found that while there are some lamentable shortcomings of features that the developers either didn't have time for or decided again, there's a lot of depth to the game, if you are willing to do a little role-playing. Diamond hunting will eventually take you pretty much everywhere on the map, as will unlocking every safe house. It's an alternative goal when you get tired of missions.

Another fun pastime is ambushing the car patrols. As you move from place to place and take notice the patrol routine, you can set up an ambush at the turn around point.

Attacking the roadblocks is also fun, and to make it more interesting you can give yourself the goal of attacking at night and seeing if you can kill one guy, then keep away from the others long enough to have them lose interest, then go back and attack again.

And there's always the cross map races!

I never finished more than half the game last year due to the October flood of new stuff. I keep telling myself I'm going to sit down and finally finish at least all the mainline missions. Maybe new DLC will motivate me.

I picked up both of these for the Xbox (they are 360 backwards compatible) in the bargain bin of my local store awhile ago. They look ok on the 360, not great, but certainly playable. I'm wondering if there will be any changes when they go to XBL.

Question:are there any new Achievements for this DLC?...this morning while the DLC was still up,i put the disc in expecting an update so i could look at the achievements(i am planning on getting all 3 DLC when the last one is out)..but no update

I can't swear to it, but I seem to remember someone mentioning when you entered "The Pitt" map area, it triggered the game update. When I got the DLC this morning the new quest showed up when I started, but there was no game update screen and restart.

I don't believe it was supposed to be up until next week.  Not sure where jztemple got his info from, but I haven't seen anyone on any other boards saying they got it, and Major Nelson hasn't posted anything.

I seemed to recall something from a month ago that they were targeting March 24th. I hadn't seen any mention of a delay, so I just assumed the DLC was still on that schedule. I guess if it comes out next Tuesday, that's still March... 

Suddenly I feel a bit like Cassandra*, maybe my guess of March 31st (for the 360 edition) is going to be closer to the mark than others predicted! 

From Wikipedia:"In Greek mythology, Cassandra (Greek: Κασσάνδρα "she who entangles men") was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy. However, when she did not return his love, Apollo placed a curse on her so that no one would ever believe her predictions."

If you're only playing BioShock out of obligation and love Africa, then fire up Far Cry 2 today/tonight. See you on the other side.

Question: I tried FC2 MP and didn't find it my cup of tea. However, I know there are other things in the DLC besides the new MP maps. Is it worth getting the DLC for the new content? I never got too far in FC2 SP and am considering starting it again, with the new items from the DLC.

careful with this DLC.  In looking over the forums, it seems that a lot of folks are reporting that it's a buggy mess right now.   

Well, that's not encouraging.

For those wondering, The Pitt DLC is supposed to be released in a few hours.

Just downloaded it, giving it a first look.

UPDATE: Well, oops, first thing is getting there! The objective on my map is on the northern border and heck, I haven't explored anywhere near there, so I guess I gotta hoof it for awhile.