Producer LP Pharand on Far Cry 2
We immerse ourselves in the Savannah grasses
You're in a morally ambiguous world...
Yes, exactly. That's why choices are important. It challenges the morality that you, as a character, are going through. A journalist put it nicely, saying its basically a grown-up version of cowboys and Indians. We want people to personify the character. Its an FPS, when you're forced to play Master Chief, that's it. We want people to identify with their character. Playing a game isn't just about gaming... its about playing a role - saying I want to be this character in this role. This impacts the story. The plot will evolve differently based on your choice of character. The story progression will be different - in that way, we really let people relate to their characters.
Will you always reach the same conclusion though, regardless of your character choices?
I can't... really give you too much detail on that.
Will we always have to kill the Jackal, though?
Ermmm.... I can't really answer. But what I will say is that its impossible for you and I to play the game in the same way. That's was one of the main goals. That's a systemic narrative story. You decide what you want to do with a load of options. You carve your own path. There are so many decisions to take. Through the course of the game we bring players back twice. Players will go through similar choke points. It won't ever be the same though, it depends on what you did previously.
Are you worried about giving players so much control over their destiny in the game?
Not at all! I think its exciting. Its great to have so much to do, so much control.
Do you worry about players 'breaking' the game, though?
That's what we've been working on really hard with a huge testing team. Testing all variables. Testing, testing, testing! Its about freedom of choice. You choose how you want to play. You can do the same path if you want; but it won't be the same, it'll be similar. Sometimes, for example, you do intimidation missions - forcing a radio message, for example - you can choose whether or not to kill him afterwards. This will effect your story. Simple decisions. This isn't an RPG, or an RTS; there's no unfolding action. You're in the middle of it all - you have choices. Do you shoot this guy's face or not? Another example, which we find interesting, sees your buddy shot in combat. He's wounded. There's a decision. Do you save him, using your medication (he could use it all), or maybe you don't have any. What's going to happen to him. Can I shoot him? There's always an impact on progression. We were at E3 and a journalist was playing, he used all his medication trying to save his buddy. This is in-game, there's no cut-scenes. In the end the buddy grabbed the gun and put it to his head and says "go ahead buddy, pull it, put me out of my misery". The guy just put the controller down and says "what the f*** is this? This isn't cool." That's the reaction we were looking for. We want you to be forced to make decisions. There's no A or B... its compelling.
Of course there are things you won't see for many hours, and there are things you may never see. Or, you might see it many times. It depends on the action in-game.
On multiplayer... what are your hopes for the community side of things? Things like the map editor...
Well, I hope people see the value in it. For me there are two different things linked together... 'cause and effect'. Some games do it well but don't really 'catch'. Okay, there are reasons for this. Call of Duty is a great example. The game is so well-tuned, we looked really hard at what they did. They use all the singleplayer elements in the multiplayer. We use all the singleplayer elements. Propagation of fire, for example. It would be frustrating if you couldn't use this stuff. There's lots of new gameplay here. We didn't want to reinvent the modes - there's a new one called Uprising - its a little different, but pretty much we've got the classic modes. We're tuning them well. Its 16 players, one of the things we saw is that people spent time on multiplayer, maybe 30 minutes per-day, but later on as they rank up, maybe it takes a month to rank-up. So we've added in-session ranking. So its all compressed. Within 30 minutes you can access really cool weapons. Your choices are important, your classes for example; you can rank-up different classes. There's a tactical element.
It really has a super-interactive layer. There's no waiting around for ranking-up. Its pretty cool. The other thing, the map editor, is pretty much a 10 out of 10, everyone loves it. People have been drooling as they watch. I took it home and gave it to my niece - she had a blast - she can't play the game, but she could make something. It was easy for her, even using the 360 controller. Its very accessible. There are lots of tools, so people can be creative. Some tools are too technical, so we want to keep the focus on the creative. We want it to be as intuitive. People can easily test in-game; that's the way to do it. Its going to be cool. I think people will love it.
I can't wait to see people do crazy sh*t. That's what I want to see as soon as the game comes out.
Its been years since the first game came out. Will we have to wait three years to see Far Cry 3?
I don't know, I don't know. There are two ways of development. Either you come out rapidly with another one, not adding a lot of features. Doing a "2.5" type game. A lot of fans enjoy that - its been mocked-up in the same way as the sports game model. A yearly update. For me, its the Call of Duty model. Take numbers two and four, great. Number three however.... however, I hope number 5 will be good! You make a great game; if there's a decision on Far Cry 3 - I'm sure there will be a Far Cry 3 - there's no reason why there wouldn't be. I'm not going to lie and say "I don't know if there will be a Far Cry 3". There will be a Far Cry 3, I don't when. Two or four years... I don't know. The brand is a triple-A shooter, we are, in a way, reinventing the FPS genre. I expect huge things... Ubisoft expects that. To achieve that takes time. So... it'll go in one or the other direction... we'll see!
The African setting looks great, but were any other settings considered after the tropical one?
We looked at more... like the Laurentian forest; big forests you find in places like Canada and Russia. We looked at Antarctica...
Isn't that a bit... 'white'?
Yeah! Its too bland. There's not a lot... where's the civilization. We looked at a lot of things. Pat was totally misquoted the other day - a journalist said the game was going to be in Antarctica. You look at things... Antarctica was crossed off pretty quickly, but you need to look at everything to reach the best decision. For me, its a good decision to go to Africa. It works with the story. It works with the mercenaries theme. The fact that that we can push the boundaries. The 24-hour day/night cycle, the propagation of fire. We wanted to play with this... and there's nothing better than tall dry grass. When we went there, we realised it was the right setting. I actually get messages on Facebook; guys from Africa saying the game looks exactly like my home. This is a great compliment.
The action looks very fast at times... how does it play out in relation to the more cerebral story, characterisation, etc?
That's your choice. That's the tricky part. Its up to you. When you play more... you'll realise you've never played anything like this before. When you play it, you'll understand. The vehicle chases, the random open-world; foes coming at you from 360 degrees. You've never played that before. Before you get to the desert, you can drive for a long time. There are lots of encounters. The combat feels natural, it isn't 'arcadey', we like the Call of Duty games. Its very dynamic. We're not just spraying bullets. Its more like: 'I run to cover, I look around, I pick my target, etc.' You need to be clever - the AI is pretty smart. We've added snipers that are scattered around. We did a lot of playtesting, people play differently. Our CCO said to us, "I love your game guys, because I can make my own movie". That's kind of true. You know your mission, but if you want to explore you can. You can snipe - or you can look at the scene - If I shoot that barrel, or that vehicle, what will happen? There are many realistic behaviours. You can expect the AI to behave in certain ways, but sometimes you'll be surprised... "oh f***, there's a guy with an RPG over there"... or a mortar. The first time you get shot with a mortar is pretty intense. Once you know the enemy have them, its surprising. Its super-dynanmic. This isn't a corridor shooter. Do you know what heat maps look like? Some game AI gets data on player activity; player paths, etc. The game controls where you die, and the experience is staggered; controlled. But with Far Cry 2... we have no f***ing idea where you're going! We can't control it. For the level designers it was a new mindset, to create the environments.
Its very liberating, there's no control over positioning. There are no triggers for bad guys.
Any DLC plans?
Yes! We're actually working on that, but I can't say what the content of those will be... but they're going to be f***ing cool. We kept a few surprises for our DLC. We're thinking they're going to be pretty sweet actually. I actually played it yesterday... its really cool. We're still going to be working on it after the game ships; I played the prototypes yesterday. Its going to be really awesome.
Do you worry about the jam-packed festive release schedules?
Maybe... I'm an optimistic person be definition. I know the quality of the game we have. I've seen the numbers for the buzz around the game. I was in Leipzig a month ago; there was a line of 150 or 200 people queuing to see our game. The line wasn't that long for Gears 2 or Call of Duty 5. What's cool, for consumers, is that games are getting better and better. As a consumer I love it. I also think people are now more able to see the difference. I'll give you the best example: BioShock. If it came out four years ago, people would have been saying "oh, System Shock" which game developers-only love. Then BioShock came out and it was accessible, and it was different, and people were open-minded about playing it. The timing when it came out was great. I just think people are ready for something different, as a shooter, that's the bet we've made and we'll see if it pays out. From the numbers I'm seeing, the buzz, its pretty good. I've been traveling around and the fans are excited. When casual gamers are talking about your game its a really good sign.
That's all for now LP, thanks for your time.
Thanks! Enjoy the game.
