Far Cry 5 | HOW UBISOFT BOTCHED a Story That Could Have Been UNFORGETTABLE

With the release of Far Cry 6, I wrote a retrospective on Far Cry 5: what I felt it really missed, what it could have done better, and how much I wanted it to succeed
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[@SOBEKCrocodileGod]

Faith was very much missed potential. I like the sympathetic backstory they hint at where it’s implied she’s the most recent in a long line of women who get brainwashed into becoming “Faith” by the cult but they don’t do much with it. I will say her region of the map may be my favorite though with all the surreal horror elements.

[@MertKayKay]

Yes I agree! She had a lot of fleshing out in the far cry 6 Joseph Seed DLC which I really liked, made her a lot more interesting in a way I wish was featured in 5 😭

[@Where_is_Waldo]

I never liked faith's region. The main thing I always liked about Farcry campaign mode was the game mechanics as a straight up shooter game and I always hated how they try to cram magic into that and partially explain it with drugs but then include effects that had to be magical which a drug trip couldn't explain. It's like jordan peterson was one of the writers. I've honestly never played Farcry 6, Primal was the only Farcry without a level editor that I could see a point in paying for.

[@teslashark]

Surreal horror should have been the entire map.

[@jadechandler9088]

I think another problem FC5 suffered from was the tone, especially with johns chapter. It felt at times like they did not want to go to deep into how messed up the cult really was, so they kept pulling away from a potently interesting idea that could say something.

[@MertKayKay]

Yes! John was really messed up and his character could have been so twisted and weird, but he stayed so surface level!

[@teslashark]

I had to play Behind The Bastards in the background for added realism.

[@brigidrockne9113]

Honestly I expected you to have thousands upon thousands of views considering how fun and high quality this video is. Frankly shocked to see how little attention your videos have gotten. You're one of my top channels to watch when I'm working or bored around the house!

[@MertKayKay]

Brigid that is the nicest thing I've ever heard 😭 thank you so much! I hope to bring you more good content. I'm also a KZbin background noise listener 😂

[@jinglemccringle3030]

"Mechanically adequate" is the best description I have ever heard for this game. The Faith idea is so cool! This channel is such a great find

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you Jingle! :D I am very glad you liked it

[@Whatlander]

I know nothing about Far Cry 5, but the second you said "testicle festival," I knew you meant a regional food festival featuring rocky mountain oysters set in Montana or some other community in mountainous rural America. I could picture the type of atmosphere, activities, and people you'd normally encounter there. Amazing how one detail can really flesh out a world and instantly connect with an audience that way. But of course Ubisoft would _never_ reference anything real-world or political, why do you ask?

[@MertKayKay]

Hahaha Indybot, I love the way you paint a picture with your words! Thanks so much for watching

[@obyone878]

Having been raised in a cult, I couldn't get very far into this game without my PTSD going off, and when I heard how the game ends, it really pissed me off. The idea of a cult leader being right is so maddening for me, and it's just horrific to think about.

[@greywolf9783]

The entire meaning of the game ends up being exactly what Joseph seed said at the start of the game "Sometimes its best to walk away"

[@MikefromTexas1]

Psh.

[@eggtarts286]

​@@greywolf9783That's the whole problem. It's not okay to just walk away from a cult. They're not parish churches where no human sacrifices happen if you just pretend you don't listen to their sermons. People get born into them. People are abused by them. Some people die to them. That's why the message Far Cry 5 tries to deliver just doesn't work. Cults are not left alone precisely because it's so dangerous *to* leave them alone. The Kool Aid isn't benign. Sarin gas isn't inert. Joseph's lambs don't enter some pearly white gates if/when they're shot by a Joseph-drugged Deputy.. Any person in the Deputy's position will have to act. Not acting is not a choice.

[@LordOfAllThatIsGolden]

Idk if he was right so much as that he was listening to the news. I mean, they start talking about bombs and possible wars by the time you kill your second Seed. But I can see how it can come off that way.

[@PhoenixRising1310]

I dont know what Far Cry 3 did to hurt you, but its legit one of my favorite games, still to this very day. Far cry 5 is good too, I liked the arcade a lot

[@MertKayKay]

I think I just played it too late 😁 I don't deny it's a pretty huge game but I think I just came along a decade later used to more QoL. I liked the arcade too! It was super fun Also thanks very much for the watching!

[@PhoenixRising1310]

@@MertKayKay No worries, I like your content, keep it up 🙏

[@orange._.persik4006]

​@@MertKayKay compared to most modern games (especially something like far cry new dawn). Far cry é is undeniably better, so there's no way you can justify saying it's bad.

[@SebLeCaribou]

Absolutely nailed the part about Faith. I was baffled by what the writers were doing with her character and how it turned out. I didn't expect much, granted, but this managed to actual disappoint. One thing I've noticed with the Far Cry series since 3, is that despite being games about freedom of movement, and tackling random tasks the way you want at your own pace etc, there is a very tight grip on the player's neck when it comes to the bosses, and Ubisoft never seem to find a way to mitigate that. I've struggled to understand why for some time, but Far Cry 5 and the random "I blew cocaine on your nose so you can't attack me tihi :D" bullsh*t scripts every time Joseph needs to be intimidating for two minutes got me thinking. My analysis of this would be as follow: Far Cry baddies are written to be scary, ultra charismatic (whether they succeed or not is another debate) and invincible; they are villains from thriller or horror movies. I mean Vaas is the chaotic nervous wreck who seem like he could explode in violence at any moment. Pagan Min is the untouchable intelligent sociopath on top of everything and cruel just "for business". And Joseph Seed is the ultra-religious on a "righteous" path of violence or something. So why is this problematic? Well a over-powerful villain in a movie or game about a not so powerful protagonist creates tension. But an over-powerful villain in a game about player empowerment, where you are a human tank with almost unlimited ammunition, supply of vehicles, dangerous animals and explosives? They can't do shit. Like realistically, if Ubisoft was being fair with these villains, like placing them somewhere we could get them as long as we beat the defense system surrounding them, I would blew everyone of them to smithereens in the first hour of gameplay. The only option they have then, is to place the player in an un-winable situation, by force, removing controls with the thinest of excuse. That's why there is so much subplot about weird drugs in these games since 3: it's an easy way to impair the player and then place them in a room without their huge arsenal, where the villain actually stands a chance. That's also why I HATE every single attempt at intimidation in these games, it feels force and fake. And that's also why I just couldn't engage with these villains, even if they were well written (which is very debatable imho).

[@MertKayKay]

Hey Seb! I'm on my phone so I can't give this comment the proper attention it deserves, but I know what you mean 😁 I feel like the villains are just occasionally wheeled out to punctuate really dull gameplay. Like you get locked into a scene where you can't do anything, strong armed into just experiencing a speech, and then you get sent on your way again. Glad you enjoyed the video Seb!!

[@ShadeSlayer1911]

I also think Vaas was just an overrated Joker knockoff. The erratic insane psycopath is so overdone by now that when I played FC3, I just couldn't stand it anytime Vaas appeared on screen. I didn't like him one bit. He was not entertaining, nor insightful like some people have said. He was just annoying, and the game sequences that he put me through were just irritating distractions more than anything. When I finally got to kill him, it didn't even feel satisfying. I also played through FC3 trying to convince myself that I liked the game, because everyone seemed to say it was a fantastic open world game, the epitome of Far Cry. But I found it to just be meh at best. Far Cry 5 was FAR better.

[@MertKayKay]

@@ShadeSlayer1911 Yeah I think I'd agree on many levels; Vaas definitely came out at a time when the Joker was this huge behemoth of villainy. This like 'cool' packaged chaos was really appealing for a while

[@ShadeSlayer1911]

@@MertKayKay And with such a behemoths, of course there come copycats and knockoffs. Joker knockoffs don't tend to annoy me too much, but Vaas definitely did. There are far more annoying villain knockoffs.

[@Umbra_Witcher]

UBI is great at picking awesome locales and setting stories up, but then not following through with them (Far Cry and AC).

[@RealBradMiller]

AC has beautiful maps, with nothing to do in them. Just played AC: Origins and it's infuriating at how nice it looks, and how much of a slog it is to play.

[@deschain1910]

I thought it was a stroke of genius to use the American backcountry as a Far Cry destination, drawing attention to how exotic and remote rural America can be for a lot of people, even many Americans.

[@friedmattato2158]

FC5 was the beginning of the end of my love for the FC series. I liked 3, thought 4 was okay, but the story and ending of FC5 just drove me up the wall with how much the writers kept hammering "But what if instead of the murderous, religious zealots, YOU are the real monster for trying to stop them?"

[@MertKayKay]

I think the worst move they made was making Joseph Seed right. Like, all of his evil and murder and then at the end the game's like "wuh oh, maybe you should have listened to him :)" like ok buckaroonie

[@friedmattato2158]

@@MertKayKay exactly. That a nuclear apocalypse happens is only a wild coincidence thrown in by the writers to half heartedly justify his actions. There is no way he could have known for real, nor were his actions going to do anything to stave it off either. Its utterly baffling.

[@yinyangcowboy1]

Cheeseburger is my child thank you. You may have him on the weekends.

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you Mr Bears

[@mythoceanas8874]

I think your assumption that these characters and events are mostly Fictional is why the games story didn't really click with you. The fact is the story, is almost 90-95% factual, just in the form of a mish mash of "mostly" America's greatest hits in cults. I understand why someone not American wouldn't get the references because honestly most American's have forgotten or weren't aware of the events. I only know as much as I do because when I was in University, I took a course on Sociology and my Professor had experience "deprogramming" cultist, so his subject matter was mostly about cults. I wouldn't but if you do read into these cults the game may make more sense, but I don't expect you to like it anymore. I think it is a very fair layman's review of the game. Faith's bit is based off of The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Rajneeshpuram. She has similaritiesto Ma Anand Sheela, Anne Hamilton Byrne, and possibly Ruth Norman to some extent. There are other Asian cults that use drugs and envisions Angels and Demons, but I figure American ones would be most accurate. Possibly some Aum Shinrikyo references. Jocab's is based on the Manson Family, and he has similar views to Manson himself. Manson had very similar beliefs when it came to race and genetics. His cult was also one of the most hostile. Joseph and John were both based on David Koresh, with a little bit of Marshal Applewhite and Jim Jones. I think Joseph was more of the "internal cult representation" and John portrayed the "public representation" of those leaders. Eden's Gate is a combination of Heaven's Gate, Peoples Temple, and the Brank Davidians. Most of the events in the game even mirror real events that have happened with cults in the past. There are subtle references to smaller past cults or current cults like NXIVM, Angel's Landing, Children of God, Church of the Lamb of God, the "Fundamentalist" Church of JCoLDS, Unification Church of the US (which Ironically is Korean/Japanese), and the Order of the Solar Temple are some I kind of remember references to.

[@alexroy5854]

Yeah, America is crazy like that.. I mean the whole world is, just different places have their own unique flavour of crazy! America, I love you but you're freaking me out.

[@mythoceanas8874]

@@alexroy5854 American cults are just easy to get info on because the media loves them, so they are historically recorded better. India probably has the most abundant amount of cults. They have Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Jain and folk religious cults. Asia in general has a lot of cults, and they can’t be extremely dangerous depending on the leader. Africa and South American cults are typically Christian / Catholic cults. If anyone is interested look into Aum Shinrikyo, Raelism, Uganda’s 10 Commandments, the Order of the Solar Temple, or Santa Muerte. Santa Muerte is extremely important, as of 2017 it has around 12 million members. Making it one of the biggest cults in the America’s.

[@alexroy5854]

@@mythoceanas8874 I mean.. many could argue that some/a sprcific American politician(s) have their own cults too... 😬😅 (Somewhat) jokes aside, you are definitely right, our cults get a ton of media attention, so they get publicized much more heavily

[@mistahchad220]

Out of all the youtube commentary/video essay creators on this platform, I'm honestly baffled by just how quickly you've charmed me in your favour. You've become one of my absolute favorites on here, and I've been binging the hell out of your channel for the past month or so-- like Christ, I don't even /like/ Farcry, yet here I am hanging onto every word? That's the mark of a quality content creator who makes good shit, man. You could talk about paint drying and I'd be sitting here enjoying every second. Also related, "Having dragged my ass through Assassin's Creed Valhalla like a dog with worms on the living room carpet" is such a viscerally repulsive line and I fucking love it.

[@MertKayKay]

Chad I'm honestly really flattered, I'm so happy that you like my videos 😍 thank you for watching them And I'm glad you like the dog with worms line, I enjoyed Valhalla a bit but god that game had too much clean up!

[@Sharktankgaming]

I remember playing this game and finishing it, then looking through some internet theories. I came across one that mentioned you died in the helicopter crash at the beginning of the game. Everything you experience afterwards is your own purgatory. I dismissed it at first but the more I read into it, the more I was convinced. For example, why you can't just get into a plane and leave over the mountains for help, why you can't get any phone calls out of the valley to ask for help, why the (few) supernatural things occur throughout the game, and why there was so much religious symbolism and religious references in the game (i.e. Sherrif Whitehorse, "and I saw a pale white horse" with Josephs speech). I thought it was brilliant but then came far cry new dawn, and well, we just don't talk about that game 🤣 Having said that, it would've been a much better story, even if it diverged from the usual farcry storytelling we've become accustomed to. If you're intrigued, you should definitely Google the theory 👌

[@MertKayKay]

Ooo I love a "you're secretly dead" theory - the best one I ever saw was The Rugrats; not because it made any sense, but more because I couldn't get it out of my head once I heard it and it forever tainted my experience. I love the Whitehorse reference!! I never noticed that, that's incredible. Thanks for watching Shark Tank!

[@peoplebro_1294]

Far cry 3 was a story that only a video game could tell. However far cry 5 had memorable shit aswell like dodging shit through a vehicle section that'd make call of duty cry because you literally driving to help Nick rye and Kim rye to deliver her baby. But if I were to change anything it'd faiths storyline because faith is a concept that Joseph tried to make humanized multiple girls were made to be "faith" but she was manipulated by Joseph, I feel that she could've had a redemption arc. Jacobs was good practically turning the player into a sleeper agent via the trigger song "only you" whenever you go to close to the veterans building the song plays as you pass out, and even going near the center you hear the song. John's story was kinda off for me like his form of transformation was baptism. Each area had their own faction fighting the Edens gate faiths was the cougars, Jacobs was the whitetail militia and then John's was the resistance. Fun fact though: the bliss flowers and drugs itself is based off of the real life plant "datura" if you look them up the plants look exactly the same, some of the side effects of each are very similar aswell

[@marcybrook7052]

Ever since finishing far cry 5 I've been thinking along these lines, but since none of my friends have played it, I've rarely seen such an in-depth overview. The thing that struck me the most once I finished the game was the rug-pull of an ending, where ubisoft lose any semblance of a backbone they had. Making the villains right near instantly devalued anything they even thought about saying on the problems with theocracy or American culture, because they were no longer problems. To this day it feels weird replaying even as a sandbox since any and all progress is hollow and ultimately unproductive in the setting. That's just my thoughts. Great video though! This channel is underrated.

[@MertKayKay]

Hey Marcy! Thanks for the comment! And yes, the actual canon ending really devalues the potential examination of the extremist edges of American culture. Like, it calls into question your judgement of Joseph Seed, but not really in any meaningful way. Thank you for watching

[@meowcow21]

This is a weird way to go about consuming media. Even if the message of something isn't something you agree with, doesn't mean that's the only thing you can take away from it. And the ending doesn't make all of the crazy and terrible things the cult has done right. It just makes them less wrong. And more right than the main character of the game who has done all the things the cult has done except they also doomed an entire county of people to dying to a nuclear blast.

[@emilycrow8278]

I recently discovered your content, and I really love your analysis of games. Ubisoft, I feel, had this problem with Watchdogs too. Like, it started off feeling like an important exploration of the state and technology, but chickened out and turned hard into a generic story for the sake of non-controversy.

[@MertKayKay]

Aww thanks Emily! Really glad you enjoy my videos! And I've never played Watchdogs but I heard the most recent one set in London wasn't very good? Could be wrong though. Would you suggest any of them? Thanks for watching!

[@emilycrow8278]

@@MertKayKay I honestly only really played the first one. Which was fun, but in the way an old GTA clone is fun.

[@aliensarerealbaby]

Just found your channel today and I am so happy I did!!!! Your video on the Suicide of Rachel Foster was one of the most well argued and eloquently stated video essays I've seen in a long time, and when this video popped up in my recommended, I was so happy to hear you touch on so many of the same frustrations I had with farcry 5 (even though it holds a place in my heart lol). I'm so excited to see what videos you upload next!!!

[@MertKayKay]

Thanks Aliens! Far Cry 5 was my favourite and also holds a place in my heart too 😍 glad you enjoy my videos!

[@alexandragabitto2573]

I can’t believe I missed this video of yours! For some reason I really like reading non-American takes on Far Cry 5 since it takes place not only in the epitome of blue-collar America, but is also a great analysis of pretty much every American cult archetype you’ll encounter. Just wanted to clear up some plot details that were missing from your video that I thought were important enough to point out and are backed up by in-game evidence: 1) Joseph is the middle son, with Jacob (the soldier) being the oldest of the three and John (the yes-man) being the youngest 2) The vast majority of the water sources in the area are already contaminated with “Bliss” before the main character arrives and 3) Faith is actually the most “recent” Faith as it’s shown in some diary entries that various women have taken on the “Faith” title (for what it’s worth, Faith is probably not lying when she claims to have been forcibly integrated into the cult as the ratio between women and men in cults is always skewed with the former having to undergo more traumatic experiences than the few, if any, male members.)

[@peoplebro_1294]

Yeah if you told me that far cry 5 cult wasn't based off real life, I'd slap you, tie you down and tell you otherwise. Waco Texas, jonestown, and Leigh are heavy inspiration, Waco because of how heavily armed the cult is and how they're willing to die for the father, jonestown due to Joseph's charismatic tone and manipulative nature and Leigh being that the cult have a heavily enforced rules and roles within themselves

[@MertKayKay]

That's insanely interesting, thank you peoplebro! I actually had no idea and just assumed it was an amalgamation of a bunch of different extremes. Far Cry really do like to mimic real life and then be like "it's purely fiction" lmao

[@peoplebro_1294]

@@MertKayKay it's some kind of damage control on ubisofts end of the stick. They often bring back the mission where you burn a field of some type of drug since far cry 3 as if Ubisoft we're saying "hey remember time this happened and everyone liked it" far cry 6 even acknowledges this with main character saying "this seems familiar".

[@peoplebro_1294]

Oh and based off one of the endings I'd say Jacobs brainwashing had the biggest toll on the deputy main character

[@quinnzykir]

Far cry 5: we forgot to give a reason why our main character doesn’t talk.

[@urielthelesser]

"There's a weird grand illusion in gaming that games can be apolitical." Oh, really? As if escapism plays no part in the wild popularity of gaming. They can be and have been. And they succeeded doing so.

[@MertKayKay]

Matter of perspective :D

[@MarcinP2]

"The politics of Flight Simulator". Well the funny things is cults are mostly apolitical.

[@MertKayKay]

@@MarcinP2 what a take

[@treetheoak8313]

I have a love hate relationship with this series. Far cry 2 is one of the best gaming experiences I had, at the same time it was so draining. Emotionally, mechanically. It's one of the first "ugly" games I really got immersed with. It's stance on the war economy, the use of proxy wars, the civilians who for the few scenes they are shown are usually trying to emigrate or victims of these two waring factions. The dog eat dog world where your merc buddies can and will die. Often just being unlucky or for trying to do a moral thing like avoid destroying an airport or to destroy the bridge both factions are fighting for. The end of the game made me feel... Empty, and I think that was what it was going for. The last mission is called "in the heart of darkness" after all. I Thought 3 was ambitious... But too sterile, and I hated 3/4's of the characters. 4 was a nice balance from 2 and 3 but once again I had little love for any faction or the main character. I've slept on 5 onward despite having the series in my steam library for a while. although I was interested in primal for its setting. Great review as always! I might just download this one!

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you Tree! I never played 2 myself but I heard that your character has malaria the whole time which constantly needs to be treated? If true, I thought that was an hilariously interesting concept. "In the Heart of Darkness" is also an awesome name for a final quest, I have to say. 5 is really fun and the gameplay is really enjoyable! Characters have a lot of promise but unfortunately so much about it has been absolutely sterilised - if you do pick it up, I definitely hope you enjoy it! Let me know how you find it?

[@treetheoak8313]

@@MertKayKay you do get malaria pretty much minute 1. People find it annoying because you suffer side effects that can hit at anytime. I remember having a malaria attack in the middle of an intense firefight and being saved by my "buddy" who was in the area at the time. For me it was an issue for the first half of the game (which imo is the stronger half). Then it becomes much less frequent as time goes on. The game doesn't like you and it wants you to die. It was for lack of a better word almost souls like but in a sandbox fps mode. You also really felt like you could tackle missions from any angle. Stealth was poorly implemented true, but there where holes in walls or blindspots for stealth. You could burn fields to distract the enemy or cut off flanks. You can go in guns blazing. Or find a elevated position and snipe enemy's at a distance. For me the more frustrating partsof the game where that bases are constantly refilling after every in game day, and a general empty world. Not even predators Just jeeps that try to run you over every mile. Although the emptyness did add to your sense of loneliness.

[@MertKayKay]

I really love the way you've described these mechanics; they sound like they have so much depth in ways I've not seen explored in the instalments since! Thank you Tree

[@emeraldviqueen]

Primal is the only Far Cry ive ever completed. Dunno what it was about the setting, maybe it was how justifiably straightforward the characters/story was, maybe it was the fact you could summon a giant cave bear as a permanent companion idk. Primal was fun. 3/4/5 i lost interest after 2-3 hours of playing and attempting them back to back they all felt incredibly samey, but that was probably mostly due to the ubiquitous ubisoft open-world formula. But none of the characters/story really grabbed me either and im typically more drawn in by a narrative so mightve been that

[@derekneaz-nibur407]

Make good comment, improve Mert algorithm, Mert make more online dollarydoos, we all get more content, everybody wins

[@MertKayKay]

The science is proven

[@AspelShuyin]

I just finished this game. It felt really interesting, but in a sort of... hollow way. The way the cult and the resistance basically have no real ideology annoys the hell out of me. Like, Wheaty from the Whitetail Militia is actually Askuwheatu, a Blackfoot Indian. That's a neat character aspect (especially considering he's seemingly the *only* Blackfoot, in Montana) except that he's the second in command of a militia group, and, like... those guys are notoriously white supremacist. They don't get along with tribes! There was even that guy who took over reservation land and got in a stand off with cops a few years back! Portraying the militia movement as kind and multicultural and apolitical almost feels actively fucking dangerous! Meanwhile the cult is also sort of devoid of ideology other than "prepare for the apocalypse" and generic vibes based religion itself. The, again, often white nationalist bent of these groups is basically non-existent. Hell, the fact that cult leaders are usually rapists and cults are filled with sexual abuse is only vaguely implied with Faith, and only *vaguely* at that. Overall I liked the game and it's story, but yeesh. UbiSoft refuses to have a political stance. I don't even think that the cult should have been more overtly evil or anything, but the choices they made are so fucking weird. Like how the cultists are all gross and dirty looking, and the writing carved into the walls. That is absolutely not how cults work! That's like a fucking D&D cult! Then they've got all the resistance members as this sort of ooh-rah! Americana bullshit. Half the characters on your team are both anti-government weirdoes AND patriots who love the red white and blue? Every single fucking hired gun is decked out in the flag? Like, these are definitely people who would want to fight a cult, but also where are the anarchists? Where are the people who hate America because it creates cults like that? Anyway I should just watch the video instead of rambling. Also the music is great but UbiSoft had to turn the comments off on With My Rifle By My Side because people were making it Kyle Rittenhouse's themesong.

[@MertKayKay]

I agree! The cult don't seem to care about... anything. Yet they have so many people on side doing crazy things for them. Like you said: they don't even have to be evil, they just need to be interesting! Thank you for watching Rory!

[@stephenkeller2053]

I think the thing that really gets me with Ubisoft's insistence on being apolitical, is that they made a game like this, and, in a vacuum, that's fine. But in reality, you only have to scroll through the KZbin comments on some of the songs from this game, which are admittedly very well done, to see just how many people unironically agree with the cultists. It's the same problem American History X had. That movie made neo-nazis seem cool, so the real life neo-nazis started celebrating it. You can't be apolitical about things like fascism, because that just let's fascists think they're acceptable

[@MertKayKay]

Absolutely spot on 👌

[@meowcow21]

I don't think you really know what facism is. Especially if you think "fascists" exist in America or are of any legitimate threat. Ubisoft being apolitical doesn't mean they don't have bad guys in their game. It's pretty clear that their message with far cry 5 is "religious extremism bad" and the cult are the bad guys. From how scuffed and mad they look, to the crazy shit they do. But people agree with what they agree with. It's really that simple. They're going to highlight things that support their point of view and discard anything that criticizes it. If this game was written to demonize the cult even further, people would still quote Joseph's philosophies of the modern world while ignoring how he gouges peoples eyes out. Being apolitical to Ubisoft just means not openly agreeing or disagreeing with real world ideologies. For example, some could say FC5 is anti religion, but it's not because many of the good guys are religious. They could say it mocks people who take pride in the second amendment, yet the resistance arms themselves against the cult just as the cult has armed themselves against the government.

[@opinionpaladin6007]

Far Cry 3 and on, and really the Ubisoft formula in general have killed my enjoyment of "Open Worlds". So quickly I find myself deleting these games for something more cohesive. Honestly a reason I'm excited for a non-open world Final Fantasy 16

[@MertKayKay]

Yeah I think "open world" has just meant "lots of marks on the map with arbitrary things to clear" more and more so lately: Assassins Creed Valhalla; the Marvel's Spider-man games; Ghost of Tsushima. It just ends up being map clearing simulator with a different coat of paint every time

[@yourfriendlycynic]

honestly really fun game, loved it so me and my friend went through it twice on each of our accs then once in nightmare mode or whatever that was called i forgot jacob's sequence was honestly the best one, id say it carried the story aspect of the game for me

[@blueberry-jrpfx779]

Never thought I would find a video that described how GREAT the story of this game could have been! I saw this with Jacob and Faith's section through the manipulation, my favorite section of the story though is John's because he can just be a breath of fresh air, a break, or the final getaway from all the insanity of the other two regions. The OST was so beautiful too and the guns for hire could have been great add-ons for the story too providing interesting story details.

[@MikefromTexas1]

You've REALLY gotta check out the Seed's backstories. They're twisted and horrible, and made them twisted and horrible people. I also thought the Story, while alright, could've been a little better and more impactful. Y'know Faith isn't *actually* flying and stuff, right? They're just Bliss-induced hallucinations. I was also disappointed we could have beards on our character, considering there're so many in the game anyway.

[@JohnnyFatStones]

Far Cry 5 is very fun to play and very interactive! Ubisoft are an elite developer and one of the industries best!!! ($5 has been transferred to your PayPal account, remember to remove this message when sharing in comments)

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts Jonathan

[@tombirch5280]

Absolutely smashed this video. Keep up the great work!

[@MertKayKay]

Thanks Birch!

[@pandercake]

One thing about Faith which will add very little to all this but I guess good to know?. I saw it on one of many notes you can find in farcry 5. There has been several ''Faiths'' and the one we see in game is just the newest one and most dedicated?? can't remember the details. Anyway great vid. The moment you said - and im paraphrasing - most if not all art/games isn't apolitical and if you disagree then you can feck off, you had me onboard. had to sub. hate the era of gamergate/capital G gamers shitheads saying things like ''why can't games be apolitical'' and unironically say ''oh my top games are GTA and call of duty'' my brother/sister in christ. one is satire of american culture and the other is pro US military propaganda. sorry for bad english. love from Norway

[@MertKayKay]

Hello Airport Hobo

[@pandercake]

@@MertKayKay Yo you gonna do a vid on Farcry 6? would love to hear your opinion on it! also just wanted to add a lil bit I forgot to say. whole apolitical stuff I was mentioning was mostly because I roll my eyes everytime I hear it from other channels and people take them serious. Roll my eyes harder when channels that got almost a million views say something along the line of ''woke = bad'' like dude we know why you use the word woke and not a slur. Not defending ubisoft because they are kinda vishywashy when it comes to bringin something to the table when it comes to politics (modern ubisoft atleast) or atleast they get cold feet and won't say anything with their chest. Anyways rambling over. sorry bout that. Farcry 6 video plzz in your own time. have a good day

[@MertKayKay]

@@pandercake I haven't finished 6 so it'd be a really good opportunity to do it actually 🤔 thanks for the suggestion! Hahaha we love "woke = bad" takes 🤮

[@George17362]

I will never miss far cry 5 what you talkin about the most memorable part is the music

[@AntiWhiteOut]

I agree story wise it could of been much better, but I love this game and how it looks like some areas where I live. It's much better than 6 I think.

[@MertKayKay]

Oh my god yeah 6 is poo poo

[@AntiWhiteOut]

@@MertKayKay the story maybe but it's better than shooting fire works off as an angry Latino at least I think so

[@peoplebro_1294]

Oh Jacob ate his own war partner to survive btw

[@MertKayKay]

WHAT! I missed that!

[@kyloforshaw8400]

I love this game so much. Played it so many times. My all time favourite. But I really respect and even agree with some of the criticisms. Like you said. When you research they did say it was about American religious extremism but they held back as to not offend. They hint at what religion but they can't say fully. This game and The Last of Us series has been sat in my collection for years and they're something I never get tired of aha. But I do 100% acknowledgement their bad bits and where they fail. You're reviews are honestly so interesting and they burst my bias bubble a bit and allow me to look at other sides and view points.

[@MertKayKay]

Thanks Kylo! I'm really glad you like my videos. I also absolutely love this game despite its shortcomings and the Zombie DLC was awesome! Thanks for watching

[@makotoyagami9458]

Far cry 3 is a game that means alot to me but I can agree It can be really irritating to play it at any point recently Loved the game but it was my first like Game I actually finished like ever So I had nothing to rlly base off

[@jeffb-c]

Wait this might actually by my favorite yt channel in a minute. A dark souls 2 lover AND a far cry 3 disliker? Literally the takes ive been waiting for since 2014, like I actually feel so vindicated right now, ty ty

[@MertKayKay]

Jeff you are the kindest, thank you 🥰

[@PCJack]

Great work Mert! 🙌

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you so much Jack! Following in your footsteps hopefully

[@criminalsen2441]

The only Far Cry I played was 4 and despite loving it, I felt much the same way. There was no nuance, just a bland good vs evil... plus the added borderline racism of depicting a culture the devs probably knew jack shit about. Pagan Minh was a pretty good villian though, if only for his absolutely Stylin fashion sense. Anyway, props for playing more than one of these games - I enjoyed 4 but have definitely had my fill of that style of gameplay

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you Sen! :D

[@sechsystudios]

I just discovered your content! Absolutely love it! Would be awesome to do a twitch stream with you haha

[@MertKayKay]

Aww hey Sechsy! What do you play yourself? 😁

[@sechsystudios]

@@MertKayKay lately alot of DBD and I'm trying to get thru RE4 for the first time 🤣 I often do face paint before my streams usually a skull of sorts. Same username on here and I followed you if you'd like to check out my past streams 😁

[@amcname8789]

First vid of yours I've come across. Really compelling and well written to boot! I was curious as to whether you watch other content creators' videos on similar topics (in this case, games in question) before or after covering them yourself? One of my favorites on the platform is Whitelight, who is far more of an advocate of Ubisoft. His Far Cry 5 retrospective is one of very different interpretations, and sees far more depth in the gameplay, but I digress. I don't want to come across as a shill or something, but it's just neat to come across such a different, even opposing experience with the same product. Especially when one interpretation is what I have in mind when experiencing the game myself. Wonder of games, huh? So honestly, thanks for that, because it's valuable.

[@MertKayKay]

Hey Amc! I don't usually watch other creators' stuff before writing my own because I'm really scared I'll accidentally internalise their words so much that I basically just copy them. I usually watch them after :D Thanks for the recommendations too!

[@ringofbrass]

a year late but my roommate and i played the game co - op, i made up a whole justification and storyline for my coop character (since the player character is nicknamed Rook, while being for rookie, my coop character became The Pawn and in the second game the siren. i don't think i put as much work info fleshing out my co op character for new dawn) but the main thing in wanted to share is if you pick up John's corpse and are careful you can carry him ( one character holding him while standing on the vehicle) basically anywhere. we went on a pilgrimage to leave him where Jacob dies, but that didn't seem right so we were at the top of a mountain overlooking jacobs veteran center i think debating what to do with John's body when i just yeeted him off the cliff then attempted to go after him, died and we never found him. i believe i still have the twitch cliff of the last part of that lol

[@ringofbrass]

i wish they had not killed the siblings and faith (which I refuse to believe she actually died there) they could have really done something interesting with them in New dawn especially if they were separated from at least Joseph if not each other until leaving the bunkers.

[@ringofbrass]

Joseph screaming 'release me' from new dawn will forever be my favorite thing and a meme in our house lol

[@wolfsmaid6815]

I´m not sure whether I can just extrapolate from my own experience but my reason for the story falling a bit flat is that this is not primarily a story-driven game by concept and I see almost no way it could be whilst still preserving the open-world and freedom of choice aspects. I personally hate being railroaded into story-focused games without open world. It automatically makes me put the game down whenever I notice that a game will not let me choose the pace in which to advance the story. So the little elements where you were captured by the respective villains were always things I tried to just get through as quickly as possible because I was busy fishing/hunting/walking the dog whenever those sequences started. I liked the story for what it was, but could have done completely without these segments of being captured to advance the story. I think Ubisoft could have done a way better job just telling the story through atmospheric storytelling (dialogues, letters, phone calls, aftermath of events...) and marketing the game as purely open world OR railroading the player and writing a compelling story, but not both. Edit: also sorry for the many comments, I just enjoy your videos while baking some pie.^^

[@MertKayKay]

Haha didn't you just love it when you'd randomly get an arrow through your leg and suddenly be forced into a story mission? ;) Also which pie are you baking!

[@wolfsmaid6815]

@@MertKayKay Definetely. :) I made an apple and raspberry pie for the in-laws yesterday, Again, sorry for spamming, this is probably really uninteresting to you.^^

[@MertKayKay]

@@wolfsmaid6815 That sounds amazing!

[@kokaomf]

Keep Your Rifle By Your Side is a banger tho.

[@MertKayKay]

My favourite is "Oh John", this OST actually slaps

[@greywolf9783]

I would love someone to Remake this game to redo the villians, I still hate "only you" after dealing with jacobs region

[@snokey1153]

Farcry 5 is very good, it has a good story, and gameplay

[@LegoStarWarsfan-ox1jz]

Good man

[@Where_is_Waldo]

I fully agree with your point about the lack of a message in this game. I've always both loved and hated the Farcry series, particularly starting with Farcry 3. I love the game mechanics and I'm addicted to the level editor mode (although they always seem to deliberately leave out key elements from the campaign so custom levels can't be better than campaign in every way). That being said, I hate the way they always find a way to cram magic into a shooter game. They always seem to affiliate the magic to the use of a drug but then there seem to be magical effects that can't be just the result of a drug trip. It's like jordan peterson wrote part of the plot. The one exception is (as I remember it anyway) Primal in which the ancient tribal character actually seems to just attribute the trips he had to magic when it actually could have all just been a trip. P.S. I don't know if you've played Primal but it contains a character named Urki who is clearly modeled after Hurk (who also appears in Farcry 4) and, if you look closely at Hurk's boxes in Farcry 5 when he's kicked out of his dad's house, you'll notice that some are labeled as being Kyrat stuff (Kyrat is the fake country Farcry 4 is set in) and some are labeled as Oros stuff (Oros is what the tribe calls the valley setting of Farcry Primal). I couldn't help getting a chuckle out of that, I thought it was a clever way to clarify that Urki was indeed Hurk.

[@meowcow21]

I agree with the cramming magic in part only because I strongly believe the game would've been much more compelling and scarier if the bliss just wasn't a thing. It is interesting to an extent and enabling the cult to sway even wild animals to their side was kind of cool. But it seems like bliss mainly served to make the story more digestible to a standard audience. Companies tend to steer from going over uncomfortable truths in media such as how willing many people would be when it comes to joining a cult. The existence of bliss just suggests that most if not all members have just been magically drugged into submission.

[@DuelaDent52]

It’s like they really wanted to ape Far Cry 4’s themes without understanding why they worked for Far Cry 4. In that game, Kyrat and its people have been continuously politically screwed over for decades by various external and internal forces and it’s going to take waaaaay more than just you and a gun to fix all the deep-seated issues there or create a system that isn’t dependent on shady nonsense and paranoid egotists. Here, it both-sides a conflict where there’s a clear aggressor and wrong party and tries to shame you for acting in self-defence and fighting back against a cult that tortures, brainwashes and/or murders anyone and anything that opposes them. I’ve read a few analyses that frame this all as a metaphor for the end times as described in the Book of Revelation, and through that angle I can kind of appreciate it a bit more, but then it still leaves the idea that our messiah is ultimately kidnapped and brainwashed and chained in a bunker by the Antichrist to follow in his wicked new dawn. Speaking of which, New Dawn really didn’t need to exist but I’m glad it has Father Seed admit he was wrong.

[@lazedreamor2318]

Marshall's speech on individualism and Joseph's speech about the state of everything feel like the most missed out parts of them game when people discuss it (especially the former). When you look at the endings with them in mind, you'll start to realize that conformity is a theme that not only relates to the cult, but relationships people might have with whoever they consider above them. When you start questioning the Deputy's relationship with their higher-ups, you'll see why walking away might be treated as the better choice (only in the beginning), as just the mere fact that a rookie like you along with a few other officers were ordered to deal with a MILITIA CULT is ridiculous. Anyway, I think the main problem story-wise is that the Deputy's commitment to law enforcement never felt directly challenged much on a personal level (the cultits talk a lot about their philosophies, but they don't critique you much. The Marshall kind of does, but he's no cultist). The writers didn't even need to make the Deputy less bland, as it's already a fitting characteristic!

[@meowcow21]

The deputy is criticised at every turn lol. He's even branded as wrath due to his non chalant slaying of an entire county of people.

[@meowcow21]

@@lazedreamor2318 it's weird to judge something for not being that deep when you refuse to see the deeper meaning behind it. throughout the game, the deputy kills people unprovoked. He directly acts against the law and kills Eden's gate members indiscriminately. Even blows up a couple hundred or maybe even thousands who reside in the bunkers. That's not very just

[@meowcow21]

@@lazedreamor2318 okay yeah you really didn't pay attention to the game. The game does a lot to humanize the cult members. Even despite it's cartoonish depiction trying to present them as just crazy. And there are limitations when it comes to video games. It just wouldn't be fun if the cult members had unique personalities and some would attack you and others wouldn't. But even then, the game still makes the attempt to show that they're not blood thirsty or crazy. Just that they truly believe in their cause. They're no different than soldiers fighting for their survival. A lot of them show remorse or hesitation verbally. And realistically, not everyone the deputy comes across is a killer. Yet the game still rewards taking people out before they even have the chance to fight or not. How merciless the deputy is definitely does matter if you're trying to take a moral high ground which the resistance clearly does. And this "progress" is nothing more than an attempt to destroy humanities best chance for survival

[@guilhermesantos8728]

Far Cry 5's ending reminds me of GOT's thematic ending. In the latter, the case is made that though humans are flawed, complex and fragile, it's their influence that lives on through stories (myths, legends, folklore, history, etc...) and the best of those stories - promoting honor, justice, fairness, compassion and unity - are what mankind rallies behind. In the former, everyone is being or has been broken by hard realities (drugs, trauma, abuse, loss) that destroyed their ideas of freedom, community and peace, while the world is coming to a apocalyptic tipping point as tensions rise; even so, you can find contentment by facing your problems in the ways you want: you can hunt to your heart's content without anyone controlling you, take up a weapon and defend yourself and loved ones despite any regulations. If 5 is a satire of the ideal American life and attitude, at the bottom of it all it still seems to support the idea that the best way to handle reality is to face it your way without restrictions. This works if you think of the game's message as being for an individual and not for a group.

[@eidoneverchoosen1171]

Should have alsogiven an actual good resist ending without the nuclear ending. And if we pick the walkway we bring in the national guard. And have the male and female deputy be able to speak like jason in farcry 3. And given the deputy a facial looks as well

[@ddjsoyenby]

this game is definitely on my to play list, and if your gonna do a political story just go all out on it (not sh1tt1ng on the game or writers i understand why they did it) also your humor is always amazing :D

[@MertKayKay]

Thanks Derek, glad you like my humour! And it's a good game in many ways, I really hope you enjoy it :D

[@novaisonyoutube]

Ya know, Faith’s possible victimization by Joseph seems better explored in John. John is a childhood long abuse victim who’s entire personality is centered around showing people who he believes they want to see bc as a child that was survival, I genuinely believe the Duncan’s would have managed to kill John if he hadn’t learned how to fake it til he makes it. Now, full grown and in power but still somewhere in there a small powerless child terrified of what’s going to be done to him, John’s constantly trying to show Joseph what he wants to see and I swear to god Joseph knows that and uses it against him. When Joseph threatens John with Eden’s gates being closed to him over the deputy he is putting John exactly where he was a child- be what I need you to be, do what I need you to do, or I’ll leave you here to die alone and be sent to hell. And from there John is absolutely fucking OBSESSED with getting the deputy on the up n up with the cult, there’s a mania to everything he does bc he’s terrified. There’s so much obviously going on here to explore but it’s kinda… left to sit? And then Faith has the same complex relationship with Joseph thing going on but way worse bc they won’t fucking confirm anything about her! They just pussyfoot around everything thinking that makes nuance but it doesn’t it just makes me have a bad day. Faith feels so half baked and kinda like they ended up treading a lot of the same bare components as John and that’d be interesting if they were biological siblings or even twins but no Faith is just some girl who popped up. I have a file in my notes app that’s literally a rewrite of Faith bc this frustrates me so much

[@meowcow21]

Joseph can't actually see into the future unsurprisingly. He just watches the news. Far Cry 5 takes place in a world not too different from the real world, but one that's very much more obviously on the brink of collapse as you can tell from the radio broadcasts.

[@doctorqrow3452]

I always thought it would have been cool if El Presidente was being a huge douche to protect the people from the outside nuclear wasteland after 5 and keep order. (Fable 3 style). I'll never forget when I dethroned my king brother for him to walk off like "Well its your problem now, go check the desert, dumbass". But no, 5 is not cannon for some reason despite them stressing what ending was supposed to be "the right one". Being a fan of Farcry since I first played 3 and went back; I thought it was really cool having one game where "you" were the character. Otherwise, a structured protagonist is better for story development in most cases. But for that and many other reasons, 5 has a special specific place in my heart.

[@MertKayKay]

That would be such an awesome tie-in, it's a shame they didn't actually make it canon despite - like you said - the insistence on it being the right ending

[@Heartshapedbox81]

It's not so great when you realize that in the continued content? I guess you could say they, decided to have your character who's been fighting the cult for the entirety of the game, who's supposed to be an insert silent protagonist of your choosing, has been brainwashed to join his side... if I had the choice to choose for that I would much rather my character choose to literally off herself rather than joining Joseph, so I found that rather insulting and it's probably why I'll never play that content nor any other Far Cry game, some might be fine with that because they get taken in by his character but what about the other half of your players? That info right there lets me know that the entirety of the time of Far Cry 5 the devs were on his side and that is screwed up. Or is that content no longer Canon? Because if so I'm fine with that actually, I've kind of had it with this Obsession with focusing on villains these days.

[@christosgiannopoulos828]

That game's not forgotten. I played the shit out of it back in the day

[@MertKayKay]

Same, I have far too many hours in this!

[@christosgiannopoulos828]

@@MertKayKay I understand why

[@coreycasciano3255]

The Father was such an interesting character, and Greg Byrk killed it, Faith was such an underused character too, The Father was only fleshed out one, the other family members needed way more development, also i fucking hate how your character has no voice (its works for some games, example: Bethesda games) but Far Cry it doesn’t work, so many scenes of the game where the protagonist should have been speaking ruined my immersion and kinda ruined the scene, i liked a lot of the characters and overall i liked the story a lot, it’s definitely my second favorite Far Cry, now hearing Far Cry 7 is gonna have you rescuing your family and you have a timer is interesting but can definitely be terrible if not done right, we’ll just have to see

[@CrowTR0bot]

Speaking of disappointments with FarCry 5's politics, I played a bit of the way in and was rather annoyed that the Peggies were shown to be gender-equal and racially diverse, since the real American militia movement is shamelessly patriarchal and racist. It seems antithetical to reality and makes the game functionally say nothing important or useful. That's how I knew this game was going to be a shallow waste and bailed out. Bioshock Infinite did the problems with the American Right Wing *so* much better. While it did make the mistake of depicting minorities rebelling against their oppressors JuSt As BaD, it at least went into depth with what was wrong with Early 20th century American Exceptionalism and got into the meat of how racists justified themselves. FarCry 5 did exactly none of this and suffered for it.

[@MertKayKay]

Yes! It never occurred to me how good a parallel Bioshock Infinite would be to Far Cry 5. The place is obviously a fictional, exaggerated version of all the worst aspects of - as you said, early 20th century American Exceptionalism. And although Infinite's visuals are dated in comparison to the modern-day setting of Far Cry 5, I feel like a lot of the principles are the same. Moreover, considering how well Infinite was received, it shows you can be as political as you need as long as the gameplay is good and the story is memorable. Such a good point, I wish I'd thought of that when I was making the video!

[@meowcow21]

It's odd that you think the cult has to be racist or sexist in order for it to say something. I think the real issue is that it's not criticizing the exact things you hate therefore it's bad.

[@Liam-gf1yr]

Horizon Zero Dawn rant/review would be hilarious after that Aloy joke here

[@cmd5789]

I want to say something clever but i got nothing. So here’s an algorithm comment

[@MertKayKay]

Thanks CMD! I appreciate it!

[@religiousotaku9926]

Honestly I loved this game so much when it first came out. It was the second Far cry I played (the first is primal) and I loved it up until the ending. It pissed me off so much that I didn’t play it again until recently. It’s so fun to play but I wish there was more to it. Like player choice and letting us kill Joseph seed. I hated that guy so much and to not only let him live but prove him right? Ugh talking about not sticking with the landing

[@glucosaminecondroitan9135]

I didn't like Far Cry 3 or 4 all that much. I love Far Cry 5 a ton. Well, the kidnappings are lame but I love the gameplay and setting.

[@glucosaminecondroitan9135]

I guess it isn't the kidnappings. It's the fights to get out of the bunkers I didn't like.

[@fallout921]

Wow you’re really giving voice to my qualms with an otherwise good game, I think you have all the issues down pat. It reeks of something designed and written by committee without much passion for the story but plenty for the stuff around it

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you Kit! I'm super glad you liked it!

[@fallout921]

@@MertKayKay I'm feeling inspired to take the good parts and nurture the potential while changing as much as I can with another writer friend of mine. I feel a blaze of creativity! Thank you!

[@ctl91]

I actually came in to this video thinking "hey I wonder what she thinks about Far Cry 3" and immediately found out.

[@MertKayKay]

Oh gosh, please don't hate me

[@ctl91]

@@MertKayKay It was actually the game that lost me as a customer for Ubisoft. Taking territory on a map in an open world game went from awesome to sleep inducing within the span of five years and honestly that's kind of impressive.

[@emeraldviqueen]

Its interesting to hear someone say they hated FC3 so much when its so universally praised. Cuz i tried playing it after it went up on sale on the PS store and i honestly got bored after about two hours 😂

[@MertKayKay]

Oh thank god haha, nice to hear someone else had a similar experience!

[@animationresof9]

Ooooo. YASSS, Algorithm. Finally you do something right. Maybe now your father will be proud of you. No promises.

[@MertKayKay]

So happy to have you here Scott ; - ; thanks for watching my videos!

[@andreworders7305]

Wasn't Hurk a Far Cry 4 character?

[@SirTallstone]

How could you trash FC3 like that?😢

[@MertKayKay]

I am a tasteless fool

[@Heartshapedbox81]

So before I even get into it I have a weird soft spot if you can call it that for Far Cry 5, certainly not to the point where I can't see criticisms about it (for instance the checkpoints are shit in my opinion) but I do like it a lot, the gameplay is good and setting is interesting and some of the characters are interesting in a realistic way (I'm talking about on the good guys side by the way) it left a mark on me, made me feel more than I thought I would, unfortunately some of the feelings have to of course go towards the ending and.... it wasn't great the first time I played it, it was like shock and anger when i first finished it and i didn't realize until later why that was, obviously that was the feeling of everything you did throughout the entire playthrough just being pointless and the game basically telling you that bad guy is right? Okay... but in any case none of that is what I wanted to ask about, did anyone else have an issue with the game design as far as character height? Was it a conscious decision for them? Was it one of those weird instances of trying too hard to not depict women as weaker than men? (Even though that's biologically the truth in most cases) or was it just pure laziness? As immersive as the game tries to be in a lot of instances why does it fail when it comes to height? The only characters that seem to have the typical female height are the ones that are not live action, like you're not going to see them out of a cutscene, this is including your player character if the deputy is female, the only ones who are is Faith and Kim, I'm sorry but I just found that highly distracting, as a girl who is 5.2 - 5.3 and occasionally sees women even shorter than me this is highly unrealistic, did anyone else have an issue with this or am i being hyperbolic? It seriously annoyed me every time I went up against any of the female cultists and they're all the same height or taller then the male cultists, like every single male character I think except maybe Jacob is all the same ridiculously short seeming height, unless they just made all the males under 6 feet, so yes as someone who is always about a head shorter than every male I've ever met this oversight took me out of it sometimes, my vote is for laziness especially considering you can choose between being a male and female character and I guess they just couldn't be bothered with switching the camera height or whatever, I think the most hilarious times of this happening and bothering me is when my 6 ft tall female Deputy is looking down at said characters that being Kim and Faith in cutscenes, it just made me go WTF! The only one's I can look down at in real life are my nephews, I'm sorry but I just hate when game developers skim over something so obviously well-known.

[@Hepheat75]

I love Far Cry 5 so much, but my experience could've been even better if theu spent more time fleshing out the story and characters. The only characters I felt any kind of interest in was John and Joseph Seed. Faith had an interesting introduction and concept, but it was barebones at best. Jacob suffered the same as Faith, but with a little more development. As weakly written as it was, John was the only villain that did feel like he had a full arc. None of the good characters were fleshed out though. None of the characters except for Nick interacted with the player long enough to make a connection. It was really dry and being a mute didn't help either. While the game has many flaws, I genuinely saw a vision with this game. Perhaps this game would've made a better TV show than a game. If it was a show, then the writers could've had plenty of time to make an amazing story.

[@vaas_3735]

Can you make a video why you don't like fc3?

[@MertKayKay]

No Vaas, I'm scared of you :(

[@vaas_3735]

@@MertKayKay im interested to hear peoples opinions because i really love the game 🥲

[@MertKayKay]

@@vaas_3735 ok I'll give it some thought, it's been a long long time since I've played it so I'd want to get my facts straight 😁

[@ironbloodedonion6590]

L+ no salvation + no media literacy + acid attacks

[@spouwnerring]

So Far Cry3 has the pirates and the privateers and Far Cry4 has the royal army and the royal guard. You fight the pirates and royal army in 1st half of both games with both games and you fight the pri and royal guard in the 2nd half. The story in Far Cry5 isn't ninlier onlike Far Cry3 and 4, but doesn't make the enemies stronger as you closer to the final boss. This results in you becoming too strong as soon as you have bought all of the best game. Far Cry6 does have the enemies become stronger as you progress, but it just turns into a giant grind fest.

[@MertKayKay]

Oh my god yes, Far Cry 6 gets so grindy! I've not even finished it. I loved 5 but I put 6 down so early

[@spouwnerring]

@@MertKayKay you mentioned that you hate Far Cry3, but I'm unable to find a video where you state why you feel that way.

[@MertKayKay]

I've not reviewed it actually, I did play it on stream though. Maybe one day I will but I don't want to needlessly dunk on it; I know it was basically ahead of the game when it came out. I just don't think it aged that well so I got frustrated with it - more a "me" problem

[@meowcow21]

I really agree with this. Playing FC5 even for the first time, I made it a point to not use health upgrades, guns for hire, modded weapons, and even tried to use medkits sparingly because it made the game too easy even in the highest difficulty. Having 3 regions to conquer and being an open world game just means Ubisoft had to make it so that no area is actually harder than the other but that's a failure in game design. The enemies are at least different. But John's forces should be a lot weaker and good for the start of the game compared to Jacobs trained soldiers which would be the late game enemies.

[@AncestralFruitcake]

I actually find Batman himself the most interesting character in any media he's ever in, when he's written in a way I like. I like it when they do a compassionate dive into what being Batman would do to a guy, or what seeing your parents shot and then just taken to a police station for questioning instead of like, idk a hospital or something, would do to a 9 year old. Maybe I'm biased because my first introduction to the character was BTAS and the Justice League cartoon, so that tends to be my Batman, and every other Batman is FALSE and WRONG. Unfortunately, a lot of the movies seem to want to be "HNNG ME ANGY" "WHAT IF SRS". oh uh, topic of the video. ubisoft is stinky

[@Sniperk1ng187]

Honestly Farcry5 had the perfect opportunity and came at just the perfect time to tell a haunting tale on topics of gun violence, the dangers of religious fanaticism, white nationalism, and even capitalism but like you said it's a shame they didn't full send with it. Especially with how America has been absolutely deteriorating because of these exact things. But even with its surface level exploration of those topics it's still my favorite Farcry right up there with Farcry 2 in terms of just raw fun to be had in the game. And with that said, I love your content and the whole vibe of your channel and hope you're doing good!

[@rishg134]

Yes, those black white nationalist Eden's Gate cultists were something, eh?

[@Sniperk1ng187]

@@rishg134 oh my bad bro I didn't realize for my point to stand it had to be an exact 1:1 representation of real life sorry bro I'll try to do better next time

[@rishg134]

@@Sniperk1ng187 You do you. Not sure where real life comes into it, but your statement is an oxymoron within the logic and narrative of the game

[@meowcow21]

Explain to me how America is only now deteriorating due to things that have been present in America since it's conception and have actually only been on the decline. Far Cry 5 can only be said to be anti religious extremism. Both the good guys and bad guys in the game celebrate the use of guns and arming ones self.

[@clementineshetheyfae8312]

FARCRY 3 MAKES NO SENSE TO ME WHY DO PEOPLE LOVE IT SO MUCH?!?!?!?!?!?!

[@ryanmaclean1720]

Personally I just found its commentary boring and unsalvageable. With the games you mentioned the best parts about Borderlands 2 and especially Bioshock 1 was that with their villains you could take on multiple views with them. I personally view capitalism as the best economic philosophy we have to date (not a political one, Economic specifically), but that doesn't mean its infallible or that it doesn't have its problems or major ones at that. Bioshock in particular shows off the strengths and weaknesses of the philosophy beautifully even if cartoonishly extreme. The city of Rapture is an undeniable feat of technology and man's spirit and hard work as Rapture was home to both the businessman and the artist and that is shown beautifully. What else is shown is the downfalls as due to man's curiosity and the city's nature of being able to buy anything you might want addiction and later mutation took over the city and left it in ruins due to Pride. Andrew Ryan within this is an idealist and its due to his idealism that the city fell and he not only admits to it but accepts his punishment at the hands of his own creation. Andrew Ryan was not just an Idealist in his beliefs of freedom and pure libertarian capitalism, but he was still clearly human and had a sense of honor to him which is what made him so memorable and what mad Bioshock 3 such a mess. Since Bioshock 3 was clearly trying to do... something its villain didn't make sense, its philosophy was a mess, and because it was focusing far more on the philosophy it was trying to critique it fell flat. Heck, the game could've even been salvaged if it was a prequel. While Andrew Ryan's philosophy was surely flawed, he believed in extreme freedom and if he were to have lived in a place like New Columbia it would definitely explain why he believes the things he does and why he would want to build a city underwater. It definitely would've also done a great job at making the player really think about Andrew Ryan as a character and would've had a much harder impact than again Bioshock 3's ending. I haven't played Borderlands myself so I can't speak for how Handsome Jack plays out, but I have played Resident Evil 8 Village which also has the ever memorable (to me anyways, I don't know about anyone else) Mother Maranda. A character who by no means directly connects to a political philosophy (if you want to count cult behavior as a political philosophy than by all means, but I don't and consider it more of a Religious philosophy ), but does connect with us through something undeniably human: the desire to keep out young safe. There is far more to her character than that, but the thing that sticks with her is the lengths she goes to bring her child back which mirrors Ethan Winters. I would say more, but the point I'm trying to make is getting lost as is I think you were close with the notion that the Villains that are the most memorable are ones that correlate to politics, but I don't think its politics, but philosophy or aspects of humanity. Take the Baker's from RES 7, none of them represent a version of politics, but each is a dark mirror into humanity whether it be family, man's relationship with nature, how broken we can be and the joys we can get from bringing it on others, and how far we'll go to get what we want which is why they're so memorable. Pyramid head is a dark reflection of the character James Sunderland and his grief, so is every boss in the Silent Hill games and they're memorable because of how they perfectly show the grief and depression of each character they relate to like a twisted living Rorschach test With Farcry 5 there were a couple issues with each of the "bosses" we go up against with one big one being that the designer's of the game Ubisoft aren't American, they're Canadian which is a problem for 2 reasons: 1 being that because of that their version of American views, culture, and philosophies are going to be heavily scewed (its a fairly large problem in Canada as a whole due to a number of things both socially and politically ) and 2 the guys at Ubisoft aren't the best writers which leads to what was supposed to be a major critique on American culture and was even trying to have an antigun stand to be so overly cartoony in all the wrong ways that they fell flat. Each of the villains in Farcry 5 were so cartoonishly evil or just plain didn't make sense that their attempts to be heavy handed come off as trying not to offend anyone who wasn't familiar with the game's history. None of the villains feel human or have an ounce of humanity to them or their beliefs. Heck Senator Armstrong was more believable as a character than all of these villains because while being super cartoonish himself he still had a philosophy that connected with the protagonist and the senator himself wasn't designed to be explicitly unlikable unlike the villains of farcry 5 which were designed to be mean spirited (attempted to anyways). I remember when this game was coming out because people were mad at how generically hateful it was with most people being offended at either people think that thats what those with conservative views were like, or that it basically said nothing due to how dumb the story was and how lazy the villains were since it was essentially Ubisoft's DMC Devil May Cry (the reboot that was forgotten about for good reason). A good villains need to connect to the reader/viewer/player in some way for them to be not only memorable, but celebrated

[@meowcow21]

I find it odd that you say the villains were meant to be dislikable. They really weren't. Hell one of the main characteristics of cult leaders is that they're charismatic. It's clear each of the 4 villains were written to appeal to a certain demographic, John: the sheep, Jacob: darwinists, faith: the down trodden, and Joseph: the people who are sick of the modern west. And I know it's not really highlighted in the game itself, especially the actual details about the origins of the seed family, but these characters are a bit deeper than crazy bad guys kidnaps you.

[@ryanmaclean1720]

@@meowcow21 Yeah they're more than just the guys that kidnap you, but my point was that what was there wasn't anything grand enough to make them something more than your opposition. With something like this premise it is an active effort to make your playerbase sympathise with those in a cult so either you do so by getting a team of the best writers that are alive or you go with the whole cult angle and make your villains memorable through their personalities and just how over the top, conniving, intelligent, or manipulative they are and revel in how evil they are. I think you're correct in that they weren't meant to be dislikable, but there wasn't enough there to make them likeable or even that understandable uless you go digging

[@oneofnone7947]

How bad was Valhalla

[@MertKayKay]

It was VERY long. I played it slowly over the course of a few months and I was ok, but people I know who loved it did it over a few weeks and burned out and hated it

[@oneofnone7947]

@@MertKayKay I gave up on creed after 3 the series just seems to have lost its identity

[@Steelers3624]

Worst. Ending. Ever.

[@RedMissileGaming]

I can tell that you're not from the US. This story is definitely loosely based on the Waco, Texas massacre.

[@SuperStar-ss1pn]

17:16 You ever seen btas or?

[@MertKayKay]

I have no idea what btas is

[@ArkriteTheMad]

This game was just... bad. And I say that entirely because of the story. The gameplay itself was fine, I enjoyed it. But the story? The good ending is not arresting the bad guy and the game ending ten minutes after it starts. Everything else is just a long slog to the bad ending. Spoilers below. And the thing I remember more than anything else? How incompetent my character is as they are kidnapped by the bad guys every time they want him to talk to Seeds lieutenants. And how incompetent they were for letting me live every time they caught me. Then entire game is about stopping a deranged lunatic, saving innocent people, freeing the towns and areas, and putting a stop to the horrible things that are going on. And the game ends with everybody dying, all your hard work being for nothing, because apparently the crazy guy was right and it is the end of the world. Oh and your ending for all this time and effort is an ending where you are the prisoner of this crazy nutjob. Yup. Nope. No thanks. I think I'll just skip the next Far Cry.

[@MertKayKay]

Couldn't agree more! Speaking of... what did you think of Far Cry 6?

[@ArkriteTheMad]

@@MertKayKay Honestly, I started writing about Far Cry 4 until I realized, I was thinking of the wrong game. I had to google it. First response "Does Far Cry 6 Good?"... Oh Google, never change. So I kind of forgot that Far Cry 6 was a thing, or that it was out. The only thing I remember hearing about it was that it had a backpack mechanic of some sort, and a killer rooster. Honestly after Far Cry 5 it's been relegated to "Deep, deep sale, during the winter while me and my wife are bored looking for something to play together".

[@MertKayKay]

Ah gotcha, I picked up Far Cry 6 and I found it quite boring which was a shame! Bought it full price on release because I was so excited for it but still not even finished the main story. Was hoping for better and I won't make the mistake of a day one purchase again hehe

[@ArkriteTheMad]

​@@MertKayKay I'm sorry to hear you lost out on a dreary game. I'm somewhat lucky in that I generally play these games in Co-Op with my wife. Even a horrible game can be fun if you have a friend to play with. 😁

[@MertKayKay]

@@ArkriteTheMad Now that is couple goals! Glad you both had a brilliant time

[@jadenpotts4389]

if you cant have fun in far cry 5 your just boring lol

[@fellras7171]

Far Cry 3 dogshit?! how dare you

[@MertKayKay]

I know what you mean, I really wish I enjoyed it. I guess I came to it a bit late and found the controls janky? There's been plenty of quality of life improvements since in other games that I've taken for granted. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to watch and comment, I appreciate it!

[@supa9870]

I'll let you have the first comment... this time.

[@MertKayKay]

Fist

[@rowdyrager-9403]

Good game. Meh story LOL

[@OVERGORGED]

you better stop it rn with this title what even are you talking aboutnkxkdkkf

[@SuperStar-ss1pn]

5:17 ah yes the political thriller bubble bobble and golden axe bruh

[@SuperStar-ss1pn]

5:47 once again incorrect

[@MertKayKay]

What are you talking about 😁 I just state an opinion in 5:47, not even a fact?

[@danhughes1814]

Thank you for saying the truth. Far Cry 3 was lame, and Vaas is a bargain bin villain made acceptable by the acting powerhouse that is Michael Mondo

[@yvesjizzum6546]

I've found your channel less than a week ago and I've already binged about 90% of your content. Keep up the good work! Also, that Far Cry 3 slander gave me whiplash.

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you Yves! I am genuinely sad about my experience with Far Cry 3, I don't think it's a bad game but I think I came to it too late after playing stuff with better quality of life 😭😭 I definitely respect it

[@yvesjizzum6546]

@@MertKayKay Completely understood! I actually replayed FC3 recently and noticed a drastic difference in QoL in comparison to newer Far Cry games also. I was still pretty amazed at how well the graphics aged though!

[@MertKayKay]

@@yvesjizzum6546 yes it is so beautiful, reminds me kind of Dead Island. That game felt amazing when it came out 😁

[@ianplowman8689]

As another brit, you're talking BS!