The entrance was quick except I was tied up in a cage in the very heart of a pirate base. I had to escape in pitch dark, it, I whimpered quite a lot it, I, thought even the way it held a gun and ran was wimpish/ possibly realistic. So this is what I had been designated I wish it could of just made me focus on another wimp of an NPC it wouldn't of taken me out of the moment. Although I was a wimp I was told I could fix this by killing animals to grow tattoos... but first I set out to collect some plants for crafting and after gathering a bunch a boar ran at me from some long grass and killed me after a hectic scuffle. I restarted having to go collect the plants all over again then a crocodile bit me. It was telling me to mash c I did but died. Full circle it happened again but I was ready I must have mistaken the c button for the space bar I now mashed the space bar and won. The crocs carcass was lost in the rivers murky waters and with it a prised leather hide. I climbed out of the river only to look back thinking they had tried to maybe make it look a little too real as it looked too detailed and unreal but amazing all the same much like most of the Rook Islands; beautiful.
I went on my first ambush crawling around and into one of the many enemy camps only to be pulled up with notification spam on my screen I didn't quite know what to do I mashed escape eventually it left me alone. I noticed a crouch icon telling me I was crouching I grew to ignore it as did the swollen and neglected mini-map. After defeating the pirate encampment with much satisfaction I collected a quest to kill some rabid dogs with a shotgun that barely fit in my hands: I completed it satisfactorily escaping being mauled by the ravenous pack and noticed down the hill to my left there were three pirates. Bandaging myself up I crept in close and took them out systematically like cans on a shooting range only to be shot from behind whilst I was looting their corpses by a straggler. In one minute in one encounter this games gameplay had taught me everything it was trying to all along: this was survival. As for the levelling and crafting I didn't like it it felt almost tacked on and is just another mechanic nagging at me to play more and achieving that goal but leaving a somewhat bitter taste. Sometimes these things just don't fit but they have gone to far down the road turn back.
Even the loading screen with its flashing flaccid symbolism gives me a headache. The tacked on crafting/levelling and overall unfulfilling story experience are the two things that trouble one of the best functional FPS I have ever played and as they slash it with their maniacal pandering and stomp on its beautiful corpse I cannot help but wonder maybe its just me. I keep playing. I have been told you need to let it grow on you, which points out its main flaw its presented unfinished but after you "happily" unlock everything it gets better! Oh what a drudgery.
Once you get used to and familiarise yourself with the way Far Cry 3 operates it does get better much much better there is truly a brilliant game here, its in the sense of omnipresent caution and awe you experience in your engagement with the world in general. You feel a worldly sense of gravitas, if only they would make a Jurassic Park like this oh joy! Grr I hate the horrible stalked prey icon that looms over animals you have targeted its just not hunting. I imagine my prey stopping to stand there holding up a shoot me sign instead. I guess it is nice to have a tactical edge seen as it usually is 1 vs 8 or even triple that when engaging the enemy: Plan A, B, C... (G)renade launcher on standby!
There isn't much I can say about the story other than it has wonderfully rich characters and mature subject matter that suits just about every context of the game.
The plants you craft are scattered in the wild and have an iridescent like skin which is so obvious it makes you feel as though you should be wearing a bib its not as if they didn't look distinct enough already they also show on the mini-map like Oompa-Loompas in a gothic horror its just not quite working for me. I thought one of my quests was broken where I was supposed to meet up with a negotiator I heard his screams coming from the jungle I started running. Upon arrival I found his body strewn across the ground in a pool of blood a pack of Komodo Dragons got him. The real mission it turns out was keeping them off the carcass, its things like this I don't mind, I don't mind at all.
