Speaker 1:
0:00
Welcome to your go-to source for entertainment. Wait for it.
Speaker 2:
0:05
Gaming. Wait for it. Anime Plus Ultra.
Speaker 1:
0:11
Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino. Yeah, they've got you covered, and all you gotta do is Wait for it.
Speaker 2:
0:35
Hey everyone, welcome to the Wait for it podcast. I am your co-host, Phil Smith, aka Phil the Filipino, and joining me, as always, is your other co-host, mr Eric Almighty. And welcome to another episode of the Game Room where it happens, one of the episodes, eric, that will continue here on the podcast, as we have ventured into this foray of one episode a week. Who knew? I thought we had to do two a week, but one week has worked out pretty nicely for us as far as our schedules, our sanity and just overall well-being in general. So it's been really great. But we knew that we had plenty of content. As far as the game room where it happens, you know, even though we don't get to play as many new games as we want For those of you that are maybe checking us out from a certain viral TikTok that you saw you know we don't have as much time to play as many new games as we want, but we can still go back and reminisce about some games that had a very, very large impact on us, and today's episode, eric, will be no different. So I'm excited to take this trip down the nostalgic memory lane and discuss a series that has had some ups, had some downs, but if anything, I guess it's consistent.
Speaker 1:
1:46
Yeah, I mean consistent is probably the case. It feels like this is a franchise that once it made it big, it kind of just stuck with the theme and it has done it at least successfully enough to continue. So I think this is going to be a lot of fun. This is going to be an interesting episode because we have titled it the Game Room when it Happens Far Cry 3. I think we mentioned it in the pre-show that's on Patreon. We mentioned that this is probably going to be a half blood dragon episode, so it's going to get probably a lot more talk than it needs to have. So just, you've been forewarned. Far Cry 3 is our topic of the day and man, one hell of a game one of the best games, I think that has come out in quite some time, and I would say, for a franchise, phil, that I had no clue about. This reminds me very much of like Fallout. I was never a Fallout guy or an Elder Scrolls guy until I got into the big hitter game, and this was it for Far Cry.
Speaker 2:
2:47
Yeah, and we'll discuss one and two like very briefly and I've never played them either, but they were very different, so we'll talk about that here in just a moment. But we want to welcome in any brand new listeners that are checking out the podcast for the first time. Thank you so much for giving us a shot and we promise we'll keep you entertained and you'll have a good time. If you're looking for any of our other content, make sure you stick around to the end of the episode. I'll let you know where you can find all of that and more. And for all of you returning listeners, welcome back. Thanks so much for the continued support. Hopefully we saw you this past weekend at Ocala Comic Con and if you attended, I hope you had a great time, because we know we certainly did. So a big shout out to Ocala Comic Con for once again Having the wait for podcast. So, eric, before we jump into this series, let everybody know what this episode is gonna be all about and then, yeah, let's, let's jump into this franchise.
Speaker 1:
3:35
Yeah. So again, we kind of mentioned it here at the top, but if you're not aware of the game room where it happens, it's one of our recurring series on the podcast where we hold a fun conversation about some of our gaming franchises and consoles. And For this episode we're gonna casually hold the discussion for your entertainment about far cry 3, which we haven't played in a long time but, phil, looking back at it in my research, it's still fresh on my mind, especially when it comes to things like the gameplay and the villain, of course. So I'm really excited to jump in those features to kind of kick things off.
Speaker 2:
4:09
Yeah, far cry 3 was a Really special time. I'm fairly certain I was still working at GameStop at that time. Came out in 2012 was like towards the end of my run With GameStop. Came out in November of 2012 and if you're not familiar with the far cry games, they are a first-person shooter games developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft as the third game in the main installment of the far cry series, as the title it shows you right there. And the big draw for far cry 3 was the villain right, like boss was featured in Every single piece of marketing that you could find for this game, which was a really really smart choice. He was a intriguing, charismatic and Pretty terrifying villain you know we always talk about. The very first time we saw boss was at an e3 trailer where he talks about the definition of Insanity right, the definition of an insanity trailer probably one of the most iconic video game trailers ever, and it introduced that character and Immediately, eric you and I were like this is something we absolutely need. We absolutely need to check out. If you're new to the podcast, eric and I are really really big fans of villains and especially villains that are very layered and Genuinely terrifying, and Eric Voss checked every single one of those boxes.
Speaker 1:
5:35
He did, and the actor that plays him I'm just finding this out now is Michael Mondo, I believe is how you pronounce it, and Phil, I don't think we'd know him for very much. He had a very small role. I think he technically played scorpion in In spider-man, homecoming that like small cameo, but he's in better call Saul and that's a show. While I haven't watched, I've seen a lot of clips of and the very talented guy is really really talented guy. So that was kind of pretty cool to see and this was a Really genre defining role because the game has a certain aesthetic and then it has a great Villain. So in addition to get a great gameplay, great aesthetic, it just has that final piece of the puzzle that makes it special and I think that's what's really cool. Really screwed up in dark storyline. I mean, he's essentially just like taking these people as slaves. He's obviously like the dictator of this island.
Speaker 2:
6:35
Basically, I mean pretty dark stuff, but good villain nonetheless a great villain and All the more reason to make the decision that they make later in the game with him even more confusing. Because you know what we didn't start off this episode with, which we normally start off episodes with when it comes to specific games, was a summary or synopsis of the story. You know why no one really gives a shit about the Far Cry stories. I have played pretty much every Far Cry since Far Cry 3 has come out and one theme that they constantly have. I Could not really tell you anything about the actual story itself. Now, each one has a pretty solid villain. Far Cry 4 as pagan men really really good. I'll have to look up the name of the villain in Far Cry 5, but that was like the apocalyptic game also very, very solid. But Voss is the main focus of this game and really you're kind of just waiting. You play the game to kind of get to the next Voss cutscene. Not that there isn't fun gameplay in this. It's really really fun. But this was the very first like, as far as you know, you and I were concerned between this and Assassin's Creed, like this was when we started to get into the Ubisoft Repetitiveness right, go to this tower, unlock more of the of the map, jump down from the map, whether it be Eagle diving in Assassin's Creed or or repelling down from a zipline in Far Cry. This is where they found that formula. They're like oh, this works, people seem to enjoy it, but they kind of just stop trying. I will give you a Synopsis for Far Cry 3, if you want it. While skydiving, jason Brody and his friends land on an island overrun by pirates when Jason is torn between fighting for the Rocky out resistance and rescuing his friends. You take control of Jason Brody, a party goer who wants to celebrate his brother's big achievement On a sinister island. What are Brody's friends names? I don't know his girlfriend's there. I think Eric, but other than that I don't really remember remember too much outside of Voss. I remember that his name was Brody, though that was about it.
Speaker 1:
8:42
Yeah, there were a couple cool Supporting characters, but none like Voss, and you know even that the main character, I mean you pretty much embody him. There's not, there's not a lot of uniqueness there, especially in like cutscenes. There's not like you're always in that first person Mode so you really can't connect with the person you're playing as a character or a real character, I guess for me. You know there are elements of that boring repetition, as you mentioned. But there are also some cool things, like one of the things I remember and you know this isn't the most open world game that's ever been created or anything like that, but for its time you could really just explore this island and I really liked that. The driving around I'm sure is tedious after several different iterations of the game. But for Far Cry 3 again, I never played 1 and 2 and I didn't even know what they were, what they entailed. This was new to me. So traveling around the island wasn't as much of a chore as it was an enjoyment of the scenery within the game. And then, phil, you don't just fight other humans, you've got to deal with the wildlife in Far Cry 3. And that's an element that I think really made me enjoy this game because it brought a whole new element to the game as far as the game playing, as far as the combat you know you mentioned Far Cry 1 and 2, you kind of were like a little aware of. Do you know if it had that wildlife element at all? Because it took me by surprise when I first played it.
Speaker 2:
10:11
I don't recall, but I do know that I believe they take place in Africa, and the big thing that people loved in Far Cry 1 and 2, 2 specifically is basically everything in the world is destructible. So that was a really, really big thing and they were very difficult as well. People that are big fans of the series really really harp on how they miss how difficult these games used to be and not that any of them are like pushovers, but again, the repetitiveness is what people are really getting sick of. In Far Cry 2, I know you could get malaria, so you would have to constantly like, if you did get sick, you would have to find, like, the way to cure yourself of malaria. Oddly enough, that's something that Far Cry fans bring up a lot. They love the malaria feature in Far Cry 2. So I'm not sure about the wildlife, but I do know that they were a lot more difficult. They were more like survival sims along with being first person shooters and open world games.
Speaker 1:
11:13
Yeah, I mean that's kind of interesting to see. And you know, phil, we're going to talk about the later Far Cry games, you know, in a little bit and I'd love to hear kind of how it's evolved as far as the gameplay, because I, admittedly, have not played anything beyond or before Far Cry 3, except for the expansion which is Blood Dragon. And you know we talked a little bit about some of the things that made that first Far Cry game experience for us, far Cry 3, so unique, blood Dragon, while you didn't beat it, this was a game I sunk a lot of hours in and I did beat and I enjoyed it so much for the absolutely over-the-top craziness that it was. What do you remember about the differences between Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 3? Blood Dragon, because it's basically a carbon copy as far as the gameplay. But, geez, the story and everything surrounding it could not be any different.
Speaker 2:
12:16
Well, first off, the music. Right, the music in Blood Dragon is incredible. It's top tier. They also have a totally different aesthetic when it came to Blood Dragon, which was really, really cool, and I don't know why they've never really gone back to this with their other games. I will say with Far Cry 6, there is a Stranger Things expansion that they released for free and that's the only thing that's ever really come close. But again, it was also still pretty serious compared to Blood Dragon. As goofy as a Stranger Things tie-in sounds, it was still relatively serious. So Blood Dragon is something that I just don't understand why they've never tapped into this for each and every single one of the games. Like, you could have tied something like this to 4, primal 5. I mean, far Cry 5 has New Dawn, which is a little bit less serious, but Blood Dragon is something that stands up the test of time. You can jump into it right now and still have a blast. So between the music and the aesthetic, that makes it honestly probably one of the best Eric, I'm not exaggerating here One of the best DLCs I think ever made.
Speaker 1:
13:27
Yeah, I would agree. In fact, I would say that Blood Dragon is a great example of what I wish games would do when they don't want to move away from a formula that works Like. Far Cry 3 was an amazing game, blood Dragon was a game that literally took the skeleton and the bones of Far Cry 3 and said we're going to do something really fun with this and it's essentially a whole different game and a game experience. And they just don't do that. Phil, I did kind of look it up really quick and I think, other than a remastered version of this game back in 2021, apparently, the only other game they really kind of did like this was called Trials of the Blood Dragon, which came out in 2016 on consoles and it was not great. Is what I'm seeing here? That is essentially. I never heard of it, so that's not surprising. But I agree, like how do they not go back to this? Well, or make it its own game or just like recurring DLC Feels like a real big missed opportunity.
Speaker 2:
14:32
Yeah, and just to again lean into the silliness of it, the main character was an American cybernetic super soldier named Sergeant Rex Colt, also known as Power Rex Power Colt. He and another American cyber soldier, a spider brown, who was voiced by Philip Phil Lamar, which I didn't know. That's pretty cool. Travel to an unnamed island to investigate Colonel Sloan, an elite agent who has gone rogue. But again, just leaning into the 1980s aesthetic was so cool and, yeah, huge missed opportunity for them to not, for some reason, just never revisit this. Who knows why, but I would love for them to do so, because there are some really, really fun locations and locales for all these games. Far Cry 5 specifically, with like like a 90s action feel, would be perfect. So who knows what they're thinking? They're too busy making towers to climb in the next Far Cry game and the Assassin's Creed game and trying to figure out what to do with Watch Dogs, so I guess they're just too busy. Yeah, they got a lot going on. We could do an entire Ubisoft episode.
Speaker 1:
15:42
Honestly really good and it would be really quick because, again, a lot of the games, admittedly, are very similar. But again, I think it's just that aesthetic that the Blood Dragon brought again, that 90 1980s action film vibe, and this felt like I never played this franchise. But this felt like Duke Nukem, but like what people wanted it to be at that time. And again Far Cry 3 with the gameplay itself, like I would always remember having the shotgun on my cyborg arm and just absolutely messing people up and that satisfaction that came with it. Plus, there were also like dinosaurs or dragons in the game. So instead of there being wildlife, you actually had like these cool like neon, like shaded dinosaur dragon things. Those were really cool as well. Phil, I do want to talk a little bit about, like, some of the differences past Far Cry 3, to kind of talk about where this franchise is gone since the glory days, I guess we could call it. But is there anything else from either the original Far Cry 3 or Blood Dragon that has stood out to you as far as its impacting in gaming in general?
Speaker 2:
16:58
Well, like you said, as far as just the, the mobility and everything like that, that has all just been copied and pasted over the last six, seven years, so that's just a formula that they are happy with, I guess. So, and again, it does work. But innovation would be nice. But when the games still sell really well, I guess they're kind of in like a like a madden loop. You know they don't really have to work too hard. They just kind of give you a new island and a new villain, which is a little disappointing. But Voss was the first game and the first character as far as villains that I was. Like I am going to be totally invested within the story of this particular character, which is why and again, the game came out 10 years ago. So this is a spoiler. When they decide to kill him off and you finished the game off with a different villain who is not as interesting, it was like the first sign, maybe, of things to come right. Like we probably should have taken that as a, as a warning of like oh, they really didn't know what they had here. Because whenever you even look back now, people don't talk about the fact that Voss died, they just talk about his appearance in the game and that actor reprising that role you know for for live action shorts, which has been really, really cool. So that is a character I think they probably wish they still had a round to maybe build upon. I know he's shown up in like flashbacks for some other games, but I would assume if Ubisoft could, they would probably find a way to bring back Voss in some way, shape or form.
Speaker 1:
18:35
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense and you know, I guess in hindsight maybe they didn't know this game was going to be as big as it was. But again, this is one of those staples in the cornerstones of gaming. It felt like an inevitable episode for us to do and, for whatever reason, phil, I just never revisited this franchise. You know, I heard about the villain who, I believe, if I'm correct, was voiced by Troy Baker. That sounded cool for Far Cry 4. You know, they obviously have had some big name actors since then. I don't know why I never wanted to get back into it. I guess I never thought it would change much. So, phil, is there much that has changed with this franchise? I know you've played it up to six and you mentioned there might have been a gap or two, but, like, is there anything really different that has had the same impact, as we kind of close things out here?
Speaker 2:
19:25
One thing that's really cool is when they added the animal sidekick, essentially. So I don't remember if Far Cry 4 had them, but in Far Cry 5, you can have like a bear. You have like a bear as a friend, a dog. In Far Cry 6, there is a crocodile. There's also a little tiny wiener dog and he has his back legs don't work, so he has little wheels that fall behind him and he's super cute. Oh my God, he's so adorable. So they added the companion system, which was really, really cool. That works out. They're also co-op. I don't remember Far Cry 3 being cooperative, so they did add that for 4, 5 and 6. And I will say, like they're, it's definitely easier to get through with a friend and these are giant open worlds where you can blow up anything and really do whatever you want. So they can be very, very fun with somebody else. And just in my opinion, it's kind of it's a hard sell when you're playing it solo. The story again, as far as each one of them never I couldn't really tell you what's going on they do have good villains, like, like you said, the one that's voiced by Troy Baker is the one I mentioned earlier, peg and Min. Another really, really sadistic and fucked up character. But as far as the story goes, I don't really remember much. I do know there's another revolution. It's Far Cry 5. I think had a lot of promise but again just got stuck in that repetitive loop and I just never beat it on. That has the villain, joseph seed, which is that game. The ending of that game even though I've never been, I know I have seen it is pretty insane because they call him the father. It's basically a cult, which is why I thought this game would have a lot of promise. So Far Cry 5 is set in like Wyoming or something like that, and there's this cult and this profit quote unquote called the father. Or Joseph seed was predicting that the end of the world is coming, and it does, and he was actually right which led into Far Cry New Dawn. I think is what it was called. Yeah, far Cry New Dawn, which was just not as fun. It's a direct tie in to Far Cry 5. And it was what they tried to do. There are two villains in that, two sisters. Neither one of them were very interesting. So in the Far Cry 6, has what's his name from Breaking Bad, who his name?
Speaker 1:
21:48
is Jean Carlo. Jean Carlo Esposito.
Speaker 2:
21:51
Yes, so, but Jordan and I play through that, not necessarily because of the story but because it's just again. It's a lot of fun. Cooperty, far Cry Primal, is the only one that kind of like veered off. They tried something new but if I recall correctly, you still have to climb I don't know mountains or something like that to unlock more of the map. That one is the one with the woolly mammoths and the saber two tigers, and you know I'm a big prehistoric guy. So of course I checked that one out but also didn't beat it because I just got bored. It's cool to ride a woolly mammoth and a saber tooth tiger, but it's they just basically skinned out. I think Far Cry Primal is the one that people got upset with because it's the same map from Far Cry 4. They didn't change. They put prehistoric animals in it, but they use the same exact map as Far Cry 4. So I think that's why people were upset with that one.
Speaker 1:
22:41
So it feels like they could have again to that earlier point that we made. They could have gone a little bit more over the top with that and made it like Blood Dragon, where you can forgive the fact that it's a carbon copy of the game because it's a completely different experience. But again, if their version of that was just replacing a tower with a mountain, basically it's not no amount of woolly mammoths or super toothed tigers is going to fix that.
Speaker 2:
23:05
Yeah, instead of driving a giant truck or a tractor, it's just a woolly mammoth. The mechanics work the same, the skin is just different. So there is missed opportunity with these. And because none of them are terrible, right, none of them are just awful games, they're all still. It's still a fun gameplay loop. But you keep selling me the same game over and over again for $70. Eventually, you know, people are just going to tap out.
Speaker 1:
23:30
Yeah, I mean that makes a lot of sense. You know, again, as we're winding down, one thing I kind of thought of that. For some reason this game made me think of it and this will probably be a future game room episode. I don't recall having as much fun in like a like island or jungle type world like this since Far Cry 3, until we got to play Ghost Recon Wildlands, which is one of the best games I think we've probably ever played. So for much different reasons and a much different experience. I think we're going to have to probably cover that game because it gave me a lot of those same feelings as far as wanting to traverse the world and be so much more You'll you be soft so yeah, and that's why I brought it up, because I just like dawned on me, I was like oh, we're tools.
Speaker 2:
24:23
We're just going to keep doing the same thing and have a bunch of fun. It is fun. It's a lot of fun. As far as wild lands, you know and that's a game that wasn't on our radar until the beta came out we're like let's give it a shot. So, but not, it was definitely not. I also couldn't tell you anything about that story either. So, no, it's just bad shit. Fun, that's what it is. It's just a lot of fun. We eventually added two more people to it and added to the madness Also quite, quite a bit of fun. So, yeah, they need to figure something out with these. But I say that. But again, they're still going to sell. Pretty well, we are a couple of years removed now from Far Cry 6. So I wouldn't be surprised. I guess they're working on Mirage right now. So that's probably why we haven't heard anything from the Far Cry series. But, eric, there's no sign that these are going to slow down or stop anytime soon.
Speaker 1:
25:15
Yeah, and I don't think until they change it significantly, I don't think I'm going to have an interest in returning to the series, you know. That's why I appreciate you giving a little bit of insight there, although I'll tell you, revisiting Blood Dragon, possibly something I do, possibly something I do.
Speaker 2:
25:33
I think if they added four player co-op then maybe we would jump into it, because we're always looking for story driven games that are cooperative to jump into, right, like we're always looking for something like that. But they keep capping it too, which is probably to keep the madness to a minimum, because you can do a bunch of crazy shit in all of these games. But I think if they did find a way to make it four player, I think that could be interesting. I mean, again they did it wildlands, but that is a third person shooter. You know, I don't know how much that changes things, but I think if they did find a way to up it to three or four player multiplayer, then I think that would probably entice you because, again, you can do a lot of pretty fun stuff in these. It's just the hardcore appeal really isn't there, especially for, again, the price point and for what games cost now.
Speaker 1:
26:21
You know, I think that's an interesting point because you know, we only played a game like Dead Island 2, which we've said before on the podcast. We only played that game because that game allowed us to play with our friends and do co-op. And again, when Far Cry 3 came out, you know, and I think we kind of talked about this prototype 2 came out around that time and several other games like in 2012, it's kind of a crazy year A lot of games we still hadn't made it to that full on, like co-op craze, I would say multi multiplayer craze was starting to happen, but co-op craze was something that happened maybe shortly afterwards. So that'd be interesting to kind of look back and revisit. But maybe they should take that approach because we would never have played Dead Island 2 or had as much fun with it if it didn't have that. So really, really good point, Phil. I know we're going to be wrapping up here. We've talked about Far Cry 3. We've talked about Blood Dragon and we've talked about the franchise as a whole. Is there any other points that you kind of want to hit on? Otherwise, let's go ahead and start to wrap things up. I know you and me are doing this episode right before Ocala Comic-Con.
Speaker 2:
27:28
So we have a long weekend ahead of us that we need to prepare for, yeah, I'm going to be doing a lot of driving, but also, eric, we are one night one sleep away from Tony Zabacchi. So if you, if you, it'd be an Ocala Next time, if you guys are listening to this episode after Ocala Comic-Con and you're going to come to Brick City Anime Festival in February, you book yourself a Hibachi dinner at Tony's and you tell them the Wait for a podcast sent you. This is not a sponsored post. They don't know who we are either. Yeah, they're going to be really confused. Tell them that's not going to help anything at all, but if they keep hearing it over and over again, they the Wait for a podcast sent me. Then maybe, eric, there is a sponsorship in our future. Don't go the same night. We go, though, because we do not want to wait. Do not, do not take up our table, don't, please, please, don't do that. So no, but that's about it. You know, again, I think these games it's like a. It's a very steady kind of boring relationship. You know that they're going to be pretty reliable. Are they going to offer some excitement? Yeah, every once in a while, but you're not really going to be able to share that much, you know, with your friends. If they ask you how things are going, you're like, yeah, they're all right, but there's not going to be any further explanation on how things are going.
Speaker 1:
28:43
All right, that was really depressing. Thanks for that. Well, if you guys would like to hear more of these depressing thoughts on the Wait for a podcast, Phil, let them know where they can find our stuff and let's go ahead and close this out.
Speaker 2:
28:55
Yes, my tumblr is in the show. Don't make sure you check out the link tree link in the show notes of this episode. It will lead you everywhere you need to go, including our social media pages such as Instagram and TikTok, which is where we are most active. You'll also find a link to all the rest of our episodes, so if you want to find our entire library, that is where it will be. If you want to support this show a little bit extra, you can head on over to either Apple Podcast or Spotify. Leave those five star reviews and comments. We see all of that and it helps us with our algorithm and driving up the charts and all that. So that would be greatly appreciated. And if you have the means and you want to help us out or support us just a tiny bit more, Eric will let you know how you can do that.
Speaker 1:
29:36
Yeah, you got a couple of different options. First and foremost, you can donate directly to us to support the podcast and everything it takes to run a podcast directly through our Buzzsprout website page, which will also be in that link tree along with our Patreon site where patrons like Briar are supporting the podcast, and you're going to get exclusive benefits such as unedited versions of episodes, just like this Early access we try to do at least 24 to 48 hours in advance, sometimes much longer than that and additional perks that we are working on as we continue to grow that community. I'd also be remiss to mention Phil has started a discord, so if you want to join our discord, that has also been updated about that and it's new and Phil's basically running it. So when it goes out of control, that's on. I don't know which way the the camera is going to put it on. This guy is your guy to talk to, but a verbal. It's going to be interesting to see where it goes and even though we've made a lot of changes here in the last month to the podcast, you know this podcast now trying to get this on YouTube as well has been super cool to get the video out there and so many other things we got going on. We just want to thank you guys for the support, as always. My name is Mr Eric Almighty. That is my co-host, phil the Filipino, and, please don't forget, we release new episodes on the podcast every Wednesday, with bonus content on platforms like TikTok, and all you got to do is wait for it.
Speaker 2:
31:12
So I heard you're looking for a go to source for entertainment. Wait for it. Gaming, wait for it. Anime Plus ultra.
Speaker 1:
31:23
Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino. Yeah, they've got you covered, and all you got to do is wait for it, wait for it.
Speaker 2:
31:43
This is the wait for it podcast.
