A recap of...
Far Cry 3
Jason Brody (Gianpaolo Venuta) is on vacation with a group of friends in Bangkok, Thailand. On a skydiving trip, they unknowingly land on the fictional pirate-occupied Rook Islands, where they are captured by pirate lord Vaas Montenegro (Michael Mando), who intends to sell them into slavery. Jason escapes with help from his older brother Grant (Lane Edwards), whom Vaas kills. Jason is rescued by Dennis (Charles Malik Whitfield), an adopted member of the islands' native Rakyat tribe. Dennis recognizes Jason's potential as a warrior and gives him the Tatau, the tattoos of a Rakyat warrior. While helping the Rakyat, Jason finds one of his friends, Daisy (Natalie Brown), at the house of botanist Dr. Earnhardt (Martin Kevan). Impressed with Jason's prowess, the Rakyat allow him to be the second outsider to enter their sacred temple. After he returns the Silver Dragon Knife, a Rakyat relic, Jason is initiated into the tribe by the priestess Citra (Faye Kingslee).
Aided by Earnhardt and CIA agent Willis Huntley (Alain Goulem), Jason helps the Rakyat retake their island from the pirates while also finding and rescuing his girlfriend Liza (Mylène Dinh-Robic) and his friends Keith (James A. Woods) and Oliver (Kristian Hodko). After several encounters with Vaas, Jason learns Vaas is Citra's brother who betrayed the Rakyat after becoming addicted to drugs brought by his employer, Hoyt Volker (Steve Cumyn), a South African slave trader and drug lord. Jason soon matures into a fearsome and skilled warrior and, revered by the Rakyat, begins to enjoy all the killing while growing more distant from his friends.
Citra has sex with Jason while he is under the effects of hallucinogens, after which she asks him to stay on the island. Deciding to remain, Jason bids goodbye to his friends and heads to Vaas' pirate base, discovering Vaas has set up a trap for him. Jason survives but then enters a delusional, dream-like state where he must fight multiple duplicates of Vaas. He eventually reaches the real Vaas and stabs him with the Dragon Knife,[b] before collapsing. Jason awakens with Citra in the Rakyat temple and promises to kill Hoyt for her.
After reaching Hoyt's island with Huntley's help, Jason meets Sam Becker (Stephen Bogaert), Huntley's fellow operative, who helps him infiltrate Hoyt's army. During this time, Jason discovers that his younger brother Riley is alive and is being held captive by Hoyt. With Hoyt watching them on camera, Jason beats Riley to maintain the ruse, though he reveals himself when Becker loops the video. Jason works his way into Hoyt's place, and he and Becker plan to kill Hoyt at a poker game. However, as they sit down to play, Hoyt murders Becker after revealing he saw through the looped video. Jason kills Hoyt and his men in a knife fight, losing half a finger in the process, and escapes the island with Riley.
Jason and Riley fly to Earnhardt's house to discover it on fire. The dying doctor reveals that the Rakyat attacked the house and kidnapped Jason's friends. Jason confronts Citra at the Rakyat temple, but she drugs him and captures Riley. Citra tells Jason that she has fallen in love with him, believing him to be a mighty warrior of Rakyat legend and that she will "free" him. Jason dreams of walking a fiery path with the Dragon Knife, with Liza appearing as a monster in his dream. He awakens, holding Liza at knifepoint, and is given a choice to either save his friends or kill them by allying with Citra.
If Jason frees his friends, Citra begs him to stay on the island while an outraged Dennis prepares to stab Jason for his betrayal. Citra jumps in front of him and is stabbed instead; proclaiming her love for Jason as she dies in his arms. Jason and his friends leave the island by boat, with Jason narrating that despite all the killing turning him into a monster, he still believes that in some place in his heart, he is better than this. If Jason kills Liza, he and Citra later have sex in a ritual. Afterward, Citra stabs Jason, telling him as he dies that their child will lead the Rakyat to glory and that he "won." The game ends with a still image of the boat and the Dragon Knife on the beach while the credits roll.
Level designer Mark Thompson stated that in a Far Cry game, morality was not absolute and that there was always "a moral gray space". The team intentionally avoided introducing a morality system which would judge players' actions. Gray morality is seen as Jason murdered the pirates in order to rescue his friends and survive on the hostile island. The team took inspiration from Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, and Deliverance when they were writing the story. They understood the game as a first-person shooter, which involves killing many non-playable characters to succeed, and the team wanted a story that embraced the concept of shooting to prevent narrative dissonance. As Jason kills more people, he becomes increasingly tolerant toward violence. Hay stated that players will slowly see the transformation in Jason, as he strays further from who he was at the beginning of the game, and begins to parallel his pirate counterparts. Jason's hallucination sequences were meant to reflect his destabilizing psyche. Thompson described them as "introspective sequences" in which Jason's conscience questions the players' actions. When he was writing these sequences, Jeffrey Yohalem was inspired by the dreamlike levels from Prince of Persia. As players progresses in the game, Jason's friends view him differently and he will begin experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder. Despite his explanatory closing narrative, the game left room for interpretation. Ultimately, Hay stated that the story was about the cost of becoming a hero, and how heavy the toll can be in one's journey.
Yohalem designed a story that examines the minds of players. The game was described as being "self-aware", reacting to players' style of play. Yohalem, in particular, wished to contrast the difference between players and the playable character, in which players have fun playing the game, while Jason is on a terrible journey killing people. Being able to freely explore the game world and enjoy the activities it can offer, while ignoring the urgency to save Jason's friends, was meant to reflect players' inner mindset. According to Yohalem, the game asks whether players are willing to "kill these characters in the game in order to finish your entertainment". This creates a sense of discomfort to players. Yohalem, when creating the story and the world, was inspired by Pulp Fiction, A History of Violence, Requiem For a Dream and Exit Through The Gift Shop. As opposed to Far Cry 2's oppressive world, the game was inspired by Alice in the Wonderland; Yohalem stated that the game asked why players would willingly trap themselves in a beautifully-crafted but virtual world instead of spending time with real people. The story was widely criticized for racism and colonialism, though Yohalem defended it by calling the game "the opposite of Avatar" as the local indigenous people did not need Jason's help and he was being manipulated into doing what the people wanted. He insisted that players need to approach the game like a riddle so as to understand the subtext and clues that the game offers.
Initially, the game's primary villain was named Bull, a bald and muscular man who looked similar to "a 300-pound, six-foot-tall bullmastiff dog". The character was redesigned after Michael Mando auditioned for the role, as his physicality was very different from what the developers had planned. Bull's physical fierceness transformed into the villain's emotive and volatile personality. A second iteration of the character was named Pyro and featured a heavily mutilated body, though such features were later removed as Mando's portrayal of Vaas enabled his personality to be expressed through subtle mannerisms. The team envisioned him to be a charming but menacing villain. Hay compared Vaas to Darth Vader, in which his presence is often short and brief, yet when he appears, he catches attention and galvanizes players' memories. Hay described Vaas as a character that was "very much in your face", which helped cementing Jason's early status as a "victim". Yohalem added that Vaas's death at the game's midpoint was inspired by the novel To the Lighthouse, in which the protagonist died midway through the story and the rest of the plot explores her absence. To create nuanced characters, the team utilized motion capture so that actors could convey more-complicated emotions on-screen. Enemies are controlled by AI which was designed to be believable, such as when untrained enemies would make mistakes during combat. Elias Toufexis initially was chosen to voice Jason Brody, though he was replaced by Gianpaolo Venuta two years later.
Aided by Earnhardt and CIA agent Willis Huntley (Alain Goulem), Jason helps the Rakyat retake their island from the pirates while also finding and rescuing his girlfriend Liza (Mylène Dinh-Robic) and his friends Keith (James A. Woods) and Oliver (Kristian Hodko). After several encounters with Vaas, Jason learns Vaas is Citra's brother who betrayed the Rakyat after becoming addicted to drugs brought by his employer, Hoyt Volker (Steve Cumyn), a South African slave trader and drug lord. Jason soon matures into a fearsome and skilled warrior and, revered by the Rakyat, begins to enjoy all the killing while growing more distant from his friends.
Citra has sex with Jason while he is under the effects of hallucinogens, after which she asks him to stay on the island. Deciding to remain, Jason bids goodbye to his friends and heads to Vaas' pirate base, discovering Vaas has set up a trap for him. Jason survives but then enters a delusional, dream-like state where he must fight multiple duplicates of Vaas. He eventually reaches the real Vaas and stabs him with the Dragon Knife,[b] before collapsing. Jason awakens with Citra in the Rakyat temple and promises to kill Hoyt for her.
After reaching Hoyt's island with Huntley's help, Jason meets Sam Becker (Stephen Bogaert), Huntley's fellow operative, who helps him infiltrate Hoyt's army. During this time, Jason discovers that his younger brother Riley is alive and is being held captive by Hoyt. With Hoyt watching them on camera, Jason beats Riley to maintain the ruse, though he reveals himself when Becker loops the video. Jason works his way into Hoyt's place, and he and Becker plan to kill Hoyt at a poker game. However, as they sit down to play, Hoyt murders Becker after revealing he saw through the looped video. Jason kills Hoyt and his men in a knife fight, losing half a finger in the process, and escapes the island with Riley.
Jason and Riley fly to Earnhardt's house to discover it on fire. The dying doctor reveals that the Rakyat attacked the house and kidnapped Jason's friends. Jason confronts Citra at the Rakyat temple, but she drugs him and captures Riley. Citra tells Jason that she has fallen in love with him, believing him to be a mighty warrior of Rakyat legend and that she will "free" him. Jason dreams of walking a fiery path with the Dragon Knife, with Liza appearing as a monster in his dream. He awakens, holding Liza at knifepoint, and is given a choice to either save his friends or kill them by allying with Citra.
If Jason frees his friends, Citra begs him to stay on the island while an outraged Dennis prepares to stab Jason for his betrayal. Citra jumps in front of him and is stabbed instead; proclaiming her love for Jason as she dies in his arms. Jason and his friends leave the island by boat, with Jason narrating that despite all the killing turning him into a monster, he still believes that in some place in his heart, he is better than this. If Jason kills Liza, he and Citra later have sex in a ritual. Afterward, Citra stabs Jason, telling him as he dies that their child will lead the Rakyat to glory and that he "won." The game ends with a still image of the boat and the Dragon Knife on the beach while the credits roll.
Level designer Mark Thompson stated that in a Far Cry game, morality was not absolute and that there was always "a moral gray space". The team intentionally avoided introducing a morality system which would judge players' actions. Gray morality is seen as Jason murdered the pirates in order to rescue his friends and survive on the hostile island. The team took inspiration from Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, and Deliverance when they were writing the story. They understood the game as a first-person shooter, which involves killing many non-playable characters to succeed, and the team wanted a story that embraced the concept of shooting to prevent narrative dissonance. As Jason kills more people, he becomes increasingly tolerant toward violence. Hay stated that players will slowly see the transformation in Jason, as he strays further from who he was at the beginning of the game, and begins to parallel his pirate counterparts. Jason's hallucination sequences were meant to reflect his destabilizing psyche. Thompson described them as "introspective sequences" in which Jason's conscience questions the players' actions. When he was writing these sequences, Jeffrey Yohalem was inspired by the dreamlike levels from Prince of Persia. As players progresses in the game, Jason's friends view him differently and he will begin experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder. Despite his explanatory closing narrative, the game left room for interpretation. Ultimately, Hay stated that the story was about the cost of becoming a hero, and how heavy the toll can be in one's journey.
Yohalem designed a story that examines the minds of players. The game was described as being "self-aware", reacting to players' style of play. Yohalem, in particular, wished to contrast the difference between players and the playable character, in which players have fun playing the game, while Jason is on a terrible journey killing people. Being able to freely explore the game world and enjoy the activities it can offer, while ignoring the urgency to save Jason's friends, was meant to reflect players' inner mindset. According to Yohalem, the game asks whether players are willing to "kill these characters in the game in order to finish your entertainment". This creates a sense of discomfort to players. Yohalem, when creating the story and the world, was inspired by Pulp Fiction, A History of Violence, Requiem For a Dream and Exit Through The Gift Shop. As opposed to Far Cry 2's oppressive world, the game was inspired by Alice in the Wonderland; Yohalem stated that the game asked why players would willingly trap themselves in a beautifully-crafted but virtual world instead of spending time with real people. The story was widely criticized for racism and colonialism, though Yohalem defended it by calling the game "the opposite of Avatar" as the local indigenous people did not need Jason's help and he was being manipulated into doing what the people wanted. He insisted that players need to approach the game like a riddle so as to understand the subtext and clues that the game offers.
Initially, the game's primary villain was named Bull, a bald and muscular man who looked similar to "a 300-pound, six-foot-tall bullmastiff dog". The character was redesigned after Michael Mando auditioned for the role, as his physicality was very different from what the developers had planned. Bull's physical fierceness transformed into the villain's emotive and volatile personality. A second iteration of the character was named Pyro and featured a heavily mutilated body, though such features were later removed as Mando's portrayal of Vaas enabled his personality to be expressed through subtle mannerisms. The team envisioned him to be a charming but menacing villain. Hay compared Vaas to Darth Vader, in which his presence is often short and brief, yet when he appears, he catches attention and galvanizes players' memories. Hay described Vaas as a character that was "very much in your face", which helped cementing Jason's early status as a "victim". Yohalem added that Vaas's death at the game's midpoint was inspired by the novel To the Lighthouse, in which the protagonist died midway through the story and the rest of the plot explores her absence. To create nuanced characters, the team utilized motion capture so that actors could convey more-complicated emotions on-screen. Enemies are controlled by AI which was designed to be believable, such as when untrained enemies would make mistakes during combat. Elias Toufexis initially was chosen to voice Jason Brody, though he was replaced by Gianpaolo Venuta two years later.
