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Far Cry Series - Which ones to Play or Skip ?

Hello

So I loved the original of course!
I've given FC2 a pretty good go but I think I'll just abandon it for now as it's boring as hell !

I also own FC3, Blood Dragon and FC6.

I'm not sure if i'll try and be a stickler and play them in order or jump straight to FC6 and go backwards (thoughts on this ?)

Anyway - I'm thinking about buying the remaining 4x games I'm missing between Blood Dragon and FC6....
So that would be:

2014 Far Cry 4
2016 Far Cry Primal
2018 Far Cry 5
2019 Far Cry New Dawn

Are they all fully fledge standalone games, or are some just those kind of mini expansion-y things?

I wanted to see if you guys think these 4x games in particular are either fantastic or bloody awful?
Are they all worth buying or are some totally skippable like FC2?


Here's the link for prices for the whole bundle - and individual prices if I go that route instead?
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/5583/Far_Cry_Bundle/


Make sure to tell me the good, the bad, and the interesting - for any game you comment on.
Also keep in mind my system specs if that's relevant.




Thank you for your help.
 

Brian Boru

Legenda in Aeternum
Moderator
First thing: look at Far Cry Modding, their content can make a major difference—eg saved 5 for me.

This bundle contains:
- Far Cry®
- Far Cry® 2: Fortune's Edition
- Far Cry 3
- Far Cry 3 - Blood Dragon
- Far Cry® 4
- Far Cry® Primal
- Far Cry® 5
- Far Cry® New Dawn
prices for the whole bundle
For me it's $14.81, since I already own most of those. What's your price?

system specs if that's relevant
Not relevant, I've been playing FC6 on i7-7 and 1060.

FC2 … boring as hell
I agree, altho there's a core group for whom it's the fav FC—probably due to the more realistic survival elements.

2014 Far Cry 4
2016 Far Cry Primal
2018 Far Cry 5
2019 Far Cry New Dawn
In short, those are all on my replay list—and the only ones with FC6, I dropped FC3 recently as it's just a lot worse than the later ones. So of course I recommend all 4.

play them in order or jump straight to FC6 and go backwards
If you liked FC3's world, you should like FC6's similar part-jungle vibe—but FC6 is a huge map, and way better than FC3's.

Did you enjoy climbing all the radio towers in FC3? If yes, then start with FC4—it has a similar mechanism.

Otherwise, it doesn't matter much. The only practical reason to play in sequence is there are a couple of FC3 characters who reappear in the later ones, so you may like to know the background. But that's a very minor thing, doesn't affect gameplay at all.

Are they all fully fledge standalone games
♣ 4 & 5 are full games.
♦ Primal uses a reskinned portion of the FC4 map, but is otherwise totally unrelated and the most different of all the FCs, since it's set in 10K BC. Has the most beautiful world imo, and is heavier on the melee combat.
♥ New Dawn uses part of the FC5 map reskinned, and is a direct sequel, set about 15 years later—some FC5 characters return or are referenced.

these 4x games in particular are either fantastic or bloody awful?
All excellent, totally worth buying if you liked FC3—thankfully Ubi haven't fallen into the trap of feeling they had to "innovate" with each new game. However, Primal is very different from the rest in that there are no guns etc—but there are Bee Bombs ftw and you get to ride sabretooth tigers!

The only DLC I recommend buying is FC4's Valley of the Yetis.

the good, the bad, and the interesting
If like me you found FC3's UI abysmal, it gradually improves all the way to New Dawn, before taking a backward step again in FC6.

FC5 is where many more significant NPCs are introduced, and they really build on that in FC6. Against that, FC6's combat companions are a lot worse than FC5's. While FC5 is much more polished than FC6, 6 may be more fun to mess around in—unless the story is important to you, story missions are generally annoying

I'll end with what I have in my notes:

5 better than 3
5 is far better than 3, but 3 is very good, all told.
1. The abysmal interface of 3 has been mostly fixed in 5, after being 1/2 fixed in 4. I've seen better interfaces in 90s games than 3.
2. Villains in 5 are better than the comic-book caricature which was Vaas, or the nondescript Hoyt. 5 has 4 better villains with decent backstory and screen time.
3. Quick Time Events in 3.
4. Radio towers… more fracking radio towers in 3.
5. Planes, choppers in 5.
6. Arcade sandbox in 5.
7. Auto-drive since 4.
8. Grappling hook since 4.
9. Guns/fangs for hire since 4.
10. Fishing in 5.
11. Player character choice in 5.
12. Shovel launcher in 5.
13. Ballistics in 5.
14. World much more open from start in 5.
15. Missions, quests etc dependent on player exploration & interaction in 5.
16. Animal taming since 4 [rideable elephants].
17. Outpost Master since 4.
As I said, 3 is very good despite various drawbacks, but 4 & 5 are better.

— … —

FC1—Phenomenal when it launched, quite difficult, some great missions, 2nd half a drag when Trigens appear.
FC2—Worst of series, VERY annoying mechanics, tedious gameplay, repetitive, repetitive, repetitive … I never got beyond 5 hours in 3 attempts to play it without boredom & tedium becoming too much.
FC3—Really good gameplay, enjoyable if you like over-the-top stuff, story missions mostly a drag, UI a disgrace.
FC3 Blood Dragon—way more over-the-top, not my cup of tea, but many like it as a short fun romp.
FC4—Excellent, improved FC3, much better story & characters, fabulous changing environment, less-worse UI, mostly good story missions, best gameplay.
FC4 Valley of the Yetis—surprised me, well worth playing.
FC4 Primal—Excellent, beautiful world, great no-guns weapon play [beehive bombs!], not-too-bad UI, nice characters, base-building, ridiculously bad boss fights.
FC5—Most variety in gameplay so far, lovely environment, interesting mechanics, fun story & characters, fun arcade mode; bad mission balance, unskippable tedious cut scenes, game-breaking timed run-n-gun sequences with major bugs—oh, I guess that should be spray-n-pray sequences, given the context.
FC5 New Dawn—Very good, doesn't include FC5 game-breaker. Fun 'off-world' Expeditions which, like Outpost captures, can be repeated against tougher opposition for greater rewards. Didn't finish story, looks very boring run n gun stuff in YouTube, but rest makes it a great game.

So: Primal would be fav if it wasn't for the boss fights. My ranking:

FC5 with Resistance mod
FC6
FC4
FC4 Primal
FC5 New Dawn
FC4 Yetis
FC3
FC1
FC3 Blood Dragon
FC2
 

Frindis

Dominar of The Hynerian Empire
Moderator
Throwing in that if you were to buy the expansion for Far Cry 5, you'd get a better deal for the base game and expansion over at Epic Games. Taking that into consideration, you'll get a better deal searching manually for each game through something like https://gg.deals/game/far-cry-primal/ (as an example of another one cheaper) though it will take a little more work deciding which site to use.
 
Personally, I got the most enjoyment from Far Cry 5 + New Dawn. Haven’t played much of FC6 apart from a couple of hours. I enjoyed the overall story, the characters are goofy sometimes cringey but I felt attached with your buddies since you can call on them to come be your companions whenever you want, the world was fun to explore, I enjoyed hunting and fishing more than FC4, the progression/perk system was my favorite of the main games, and New Game Plus was a ton of fun. As a person who plays these games like I’m the greatest action hero on earth, the shooting in FC5 feels the tightest to me.

Playing FC5 then going into New Dawn is rewarding because of the references and how it’s a continuation of the story, though not entirely required to play FC5 first (strongly recommended tho of course). The gameplay feels a bit different compared to FC5 and had some welcome differences.
 

Brian Boru

Legenda in Aeternum
Moderator
your buddies
Yeah, I mentioned 5 is more polished than 6, and it sure shows in the buddies. The 5 & ND selection is far superior, and so is their handling—I'm still dipping into 6 as time allows, and now playing without an Amigo unless I see a need. They just get underfoot too much, which wears on my patience—in 5 they tended to keep a few meters distance.

5 is the better game no doubt, but 6 is up there somewhere near the top—it's a lot of fun.
 
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Yeah, I mentioned 5 is more polished than 6, and it sure shows in the buddies. The 5 & ND selection is far superior, and so is their handling—I'm still dipping into 6 as time allows, and now playing without an Amigo unless I see a need. They just get underfoot too much, which wears on my patience—in 5 they tended to keep a few meters distance.

5 is the better game no doubt, but 6 is up there somewhere near the top—it's a lot of fun.

Gosh I loved the buddy system so much. What was really special about it is every different pair of characters will bring out unique dialogue in each other. Hurk and Sharky together was actually hilarious at times. Or Sharky with Grace was a hilarious combo also. I really need to play FC5 again now
 
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PCG Dash

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Absolutely love all of them and imo they're all worth playing.
If I had to choose though, 4 is easily the most skippable. It's effectively just a beat for beat retread of 3 and feels incredibly derivative if you play them close together.

I do a big series replay every year or two and generally choose to skip 4 in favour of 5 and New Dawn to stop things feeling too samey before going back to mop it up at the end.

Honestly though, if you really like the original and haven't played Crysis yet it might be good to start on that too - the Crysis series is definitely much more of a spirital successor to Far Cry 1 than 2/3/4/5/6 are!
 
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Brian Boru

Legenda in Aeternum
Moderator
the Crysis series is definitely much more of a spirital successor to Far Cry 1 than 2/3/4/5/6 are
I don't see the connection between the first-world urban setting of Crysis 2 & 3 and remote island-hopping FC1. Later FCs are much closer to the locale of FC1.

Despite the in-game dates, Crysis is set in a future scifi setting with super powers for soldiers and aliens having invaded earth. About as far from FC1 as you can get without setting the whole thing in space.

I do love the first halves of Crysis 1 and Warhead tho, replay them every year—but their main connection with FC1 is the same dev :)
 

PCG Dash

Staff member
Apr 7, 2023
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Crysis is set in a future scifi setting with super powers for soldiers and aliens having invaded earth. About as far from FC1 as you can get without setting the whole thing in space.
I agree that Crysis 2 and 3 are pretty different, but Crysis 1 is still much closer to Far Cry 1 than any of the later Far Cry games imo.

Both Far Cry 1 and Crysis 1 have island tropical settings, they are also fairly linear unlike Far Cry 2 onwards. Crysis 1 also introduces the aliens part way through the campaign in much the same way Far Cry 1 introduces the alien-like Trigens later on. Tonally, they both have a Sci-fi edge (and you're right that Crysis leans much further into it, especially in the sequels).

Far Cry 2 was such a big shake up on the Far Cry 1 formula that, while I do also see the similarities between later Far Cry settings and Far Cry 1, the Crysis series still feels like much more of a logical successor - at least to me!
 

Brian Boru

Legenda in Aeternum
Moderator

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