Bonus Episode! Far Cry 5 Review

Kevin Erhard 0:00
Hey there everybody welcome back to pixel it My name is Kevin and Today on the show we are talking about Far Cry five that's right we have just finished Far Cry absolution and we are going to review slash just know talk about the Far Cry five and the seed siblings and all that fun stuff. So with me today that really makes it work with me as always is Phil and today we have a special guest Jamel from the YouTube channel Daniel and game library is a series on YouTube jam. Welcome aboard.

Jam 0:41
Glad to be here. Glad to realize we're finally starting and not like earlier where I thought we were starting but

Phil 0:49
Chad has been talking for the past 25 minutes thinking that we were ready for him on the show. It was

Jam 0:55
more I've been rambling about I've been rambling about the game and Far Cry and and how spiritual we can get together. But no, I have a series on the internet called game library which is similar to this where I talk about video game books. It's not a podcast, but it is. I do my best in Vegas. I think that's the best way I can describe it.

Kevin Erhard 1:19
Yep. Yeah. And yeah, so you're a kindred spirit in terms of diving into the novelizations of, of video games and really getting into the guts of them.

Phil 1:32
It's a really big difference, doesn't it?

Jam 1:36
Yeah, the extra lor supplements that may or may not be canon half the time they're not unless it's a halo novel. But that's that's a terrifying discussion for another day.

Phil 1:47
It's such a deep well.

Jam 1:50
So much Halo god there's that that's that actually is one of the things that scares me. I'll make a whole thing out of that later. But my most recent video that was out at the time of this recording was Deus Ex black light, which is great. Um, and by the by the time this comes out, I will have released my next video on Arkham Knight The Riddler is Gambit featuring an interview from the author of the hot dab. Whoo,

Kevin Erhard 2:18
thing that we've been talking about doing and then we I don't know Haven't

Phil 2:25
we did get in contact with the author of of the Resident Evil novels that we started out the entire podcast with and and she she told us so we can we'd love to have you on she was like I'm kind of afraid of being on AI which is a totally rational reaction. But she did say when she would do a q&a and we came up with questions so we just need to actually you know, do that because it's what of what a lovely opportunity that has been wasted dammit wasted.

Jam 3:00
The Resident Evil novels scare me not because they're supposed to be horror novels, but because of what they are and what's in them. But I'll tell you this as far as interviewing an author, it's a scheduling nightmare. Um, I believe that I've interviewed two authors so far. The first was William C Dietz and I totally recorded that but wizards stole away my recording. Totally. I don't know how that happened. That was a hitman novel. Oh god it in the night did and the last one I actually successfully recorded um, but let me tell you it's a scheduling nightmare. Yeah, and then a month later, it's like I can probably do this in like three weeks at a particular time and it only really helps if you're jobless. The average job good luck. Um, I've also reached out to the author of the Deus Ex novel and after the video was released, he finally responded like I could probably respond in a text email shoot them my way I'll answer them and I'm like okay, maybe I'll do that and I still haven't gotten a response every sentence with with with what's going on in the world and with his own schedule, because he's writing like a billion things and he lives in the UK i don't i don't blame him. I'm not mad right. All right. I'm very happy he was actually able to get back but it is an absolute scheduling nightmare, not to mention the fact that I messaged the Arkham Knight Ridley's Gambit author when he was on vacation of all times to actually message him. Seriously, like I'm gonna go to the ballgame first it's like well, you have fun with that sir. And it was a good interview. You'll you'll hear it on the episode sometime this week once I know.

Kevin Erhard 4:37
Looking forward to it. The it actually reminds me of when I did a video on x calm and after I released it. The the PR flack or representative for Julian Gollop who created the XCOM series, just like commented on the videos saying hey, you know if you just asked you could have interviewed you And for this,

Phil 5:01
in that, I think that's the thing that a lot of us still aren't used to with just Twitter sometimes where it's like, oh, you know those the guy who wrote a lot of your favorite Vampire the Masquerade source books that you read when you were in high school and stuff like that? Yeah, he's gonna be your friend on Twitter in like 1015 years so just hang out and you know, there's all those authors you're going to be able to actually reach out to him. It's it's just a matter of actually doing something with it. That's the difference and making it work.

Jam 5:35
Just keep doing what you're doing and eventually something will stick you'll make friends with the craziest people.

Phil 5:40
It's weird, isn't

Kevin Erhard 5:41
it? You just you just keep knocking on doors. Eventually, somebody's going to answer and say Yes, come in, make yourself at home.

Jam 5:49
If I if I shitpost hard enough on Twitter, maybe one day it will be followed by Barack Obama.

Phil 5:56
All right, am I the only person in this this this chat who has not been followed by him on frustrated I know so many people, like when he first popped on there, and he was just following everybody? Anyone who responded? I didn't get fucking followed and if this is me off,

Jam 6:13
I'm actually not followed by Obama. I hope he doesn't follow me. I do nothing but like shit posts and talk about my series. It's boring for the former US president. That's got better things to do. Like release memoirs and do his own thing. I don't know. I don't want to ever I guess.

Phil 6:27
Whatever.

Kevin Erhard 6:28
Make Yeah, good. I think he's making netflix documentaries now. I mean, that's a cushy job.

Phil 6:35
He's Yeah, he's he's keeping busy. You gotta you gotta give him up. After being president united states. You got to figure anything that we would consider busy. It's just nothing for him at this point. Yeah,

Jam 6:49
you got to do something. So your hair isn't so white anymore.

Kevin Erhard 6:53
Oh, God, like reverse the process. I think those

Phil 6:55
before and after pictures you see of the president like, before they were elected president after they left office. It's so funny when you look at those the only one who seems to be unaffected was Trump and that's because he didn't really look like that in the first place. Yeah. He actually naturally looked like anyway, so it doesn't matter.

Kevin Erhard 7:18
He really does all spray tan to me.

Phil 7:21
I mean, you can't age Photoshop, my friend. You just can't.

Kevin Erhard 7:28
We're talking about Far Cry five today. Damn right. And it it takes place in hope County, Montana. And it is an open world game. Or sandbox game. If you were born in like the 1980s. You You might still slip and call it that.

Phil 7:50
games anymore.

Jam 7:52
I'm a I'm a like millennial or Gen Z. I don't know what I am. I was born in 97. I still call them sandbox games sometimes.

Phil 8:00
Thank God. Thank God, someone. Were someone speaking since out here.

Kevin Erhard 8:08
Yeah, as if Phil and I were born in the first half of the 1980s. So

Jam 8:13
yeah, I'm the I'm the youngest one here has fun. What

Phil 8:18
did they they say they call us on the Oregon Trail generation,

Kevin Erhard 8:24
Oregon Trail

Phil 8:26
general examples or whatever it is where it's like zeneo raised wet crossover, but we gained it some better Nightcrawler. So yeah,

Kevin Erhard 8:35
the right that crossover between x Gen X and millennials is kind of where we sit, which

Phil 8:41
would really annoy me to have that like to do that kind of, you know, splitting hairs. But I really, anytime someone says something about millennials, I'm like, I just don't feel like I'm a millennial, it doesn't it kind of does make a difference.

Jam 8:56
It's like the word millennial in itself. You know, millennia you thought it would mean like anyone Born on 2000 or afterwards that that's what makes the most sense in my head. But no, it's like, you've got to do advanced calculus to figure out what to classify yourself.

Kevin Erhard 9:08
Yes. Yeah, it was it was those who came of age around the turn of the millennia, which, sure, I guess Sure. I mean, I was in high school Okay. Now I mean, that's that's that's, that's a that's a standard coming of age story.

Jam 9:24
Yeah. I watched standby, man.

Phil 9:29
Don't learn something from it.

Kevin Erhard 9:30
You guys want to go? You guys want to go find a dead body?

Jam 9:37
I'll go I'll go see a dead body. If it means meeting Kiefer Sutherland, which still surprised I mean, that film,

Phil 9:42
it would be I mean, that would it would be a mess. It really would be it's like, he's all anger and rage. And I'm like, Oh, can you sign my blocks in 24?

Jam 9:52
Just he's yelling about where his wife is. or sir. There's something I didn't I only watch the 24 again, Watch the rest

Phil 10:02
I don't know if you do

Kevin Erhard 10:06
I don't think I'm allowed to actually review Far Cry five. Playing by the by the internet's rules because I never finished the game. But guess what? We're not playing by the internet's rules we're playing by pixel its rules

Phil 10:22
didn't spy we'll say softly and the last time we reviewed a game

Kevin Erhard 10:27
that's true. You did weep softly into the microphone. About Bloodborne

Phil 10:33
real cozy with a mute button.

Kevin Erhard 10:36
Did you even wake up I forgot to ask you Did you even wake up the doll?

Phil 10:42
No, no, um, I only know what that is because of the the video you recommended.

Kevin Erhard 10:48
Got it? Okay. Moving on, we're not talking about

Jam 10:54
before another tragedy strikes you jam or you know, it's fine. We'll discuss that later when Bloodborne two happens and something will happen there but I'm just

Phil 11:05
gonna I'm gonna start a riot Leggett Bloodborne two's gonna come on like Yeah, yes, they were we're gonna do just S.T.A.R.S. Setting cars on fire.

Jam 11:14
Shots fighter, disgruntled man yelling about a Japanese video game? Yes.

Phil 11:21
GamerGate

Kevin Erhard 11:24
No, no. So yeah, Far Cry five. It's, it's, it's my here's my concise opinion on it. I liked what I played, but I didn't feel like I needed to play anymore. So I went out through john seeds territory. So and I referenced john seed is the main antagonist of the book that we just finished for our crap solution. So yeah, I went up through john seeds territory, I shot him in the face with an arrow a few times, right. And then it was like, there's something about the fact that there was like, the two more areas and it was like, I gotta, I gotta start over, I guess. Right? away. Yeah. So So then I was like, I'm just gonna put it down for now. And then I and then death loop came out and I just never picked up.

Phil 12:25
That's fair. That's completely understandable. I think. I think if I hadn't, I think if I hadn't have finished it for the second time, by the time you pointed out the actraiser Renaissance was the thing I probably wouldn't have completed either but yeah, it's it's huge. I think that's the thing especially for those of us with, you know, wives and kids and lives. It doesn't hold the same appeal does it those there's right enormous like this is going to take 75 hours off your life fucker. Like I still remember where I was the first time I told a non gamer how long you could spend playing games like Skyrim, for example. And the look she gave me I was like, Oh, right, there are people out there who are not just used to the idea of a game taking 40 hours to complete. And that's just Yeah, kind of middling average. Like that. Just the look on your face. And I remember exactly what you said I was dating this woman at the time. She went 40 hours it took you 40 hours to beat that game. And I went well, yeah, the main the main, the main parts, and she went and that's and you're good with spending that time doing that. That you're fine with that. That's how you spent those 40 hours. And I was like, yeah. Okay, okay. And it felt like you felt like the girlfriend equivalent of and I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. It was it was really nerve wracking. I'll never forget it. And then you just kind of naturally fall into this place where you're like, No, I think I think an objective or two here and there would be fine but I don't know if I can spend 80 hours on the next game. What about that what's what's what's the extent of your experience here?

Jam 14:29
a firm's a gaming are just Far Cry five, just alone cuz

Phil 14:35
mix it up. Alright.

Jam 14:36
I'm still in a position where I can hang out with my kid, watch him and still play games quite liberally. But think about what you said about telling someone Oh, I played that game for 40 hours. Thinking about it from an outside perspective. I imagine their first thought is in a row. A lot of concern. But I play a ton of games. I'm working my way through dread right now. I want 100% that which is taking years off my life. Oh, I'm trying to

Kevin Erhard 15:06
finish this video good though, isn't it?

Jam 15:08
Oh it's Jesus. It's very good. It's probably the best Metroid. Metroid Metroid game there is getting my words already confused. Um It's the best Metro dread there is. No shit. There's only one

Phil 15:21
this one. So,

Kevin Erhard 15:23
Metroid? Metroid dread the best Metroid dread

Jam 15:27
the pull of Red Dead Redemption, and instead of doing another funky little RDR title with a different R word it'll just be Red Dead Redemption to the prequel no Red Dead revolution or whatever just that but I

Kevin Erhard 15:42
read read dread redemption. Metroid.

Jam 15:46
We did it there they were clever. They're nice Um, I think video games are just a great art form as a whole and as far as Far Cry five goes I've beaten Far Cry five um I have a love hate relationship with it um me personally talking about the good first with Far Cry five I thought I thought the gameplay is very tried and true um they've touched it up a lot from Far Cry four and then Far Cry three you know so on before that, um, I thought the gunplay felt nice the upgrade system was pretty decent you do a lot of stuff because it packs a lot of shit for you to do the driving doesn't feel bad and the graphics are very nice Of course it's not a bad game to look at the voice acting the performances. Hmm very good. You know, Ubisoft knows how to really handle their money Um, there's a lot of there's a lot of good I could talk about and then what happened with me was I played this and I finished it up again recently and I'm like okay yeah, that's a game Let me try restarting a fresh new save and it made me realize wow, this game feels completely different if you go from like a late game save to something completely new it's it's more than a nerf it feels just like you're having everything stripped away You have no upgrades no special like extra slots for weapons like having two weapons at the start is such a crime. It feels weird going from I need a pistol but I also need a shotgun and a machine gun

Phil 17:15
well and I can I well how is how is that different from how you would do with just about any other game that has that slow upgrade creep that happens

Jam 17:24
I guess I guess it's just like playing Far Cry five you kind of come to use the upgrades as a crutch more or less It feels good having all of them and the variety in Far Cry five is another good thing about it going from a sniper you know if maybe you want to sneak this or maybe you want to get a get the bear campaign I forget his name peaches was burger cheese peaches was the cheetah or Tiger whatever peaches

Kevin Erhard 17:48
was yeah peaches is the Mountain Lion Lion

Jam 17:51
and Boomer was the good boy good boy Far Cry five kind of relies on having all that power so going from like this high level having four guns being able to mix it up easily to nothing kind of takes away from the experience I'll say that So Far Cry five talk like creeping into the negatives the replayability factor at least on a new save doesn't feel great playing through Far Cry five again you kind of see just how some things feel weird and I'm very in the middle about Far Cry five whether or not I absolutely love it or hate it I'll tell you that for free it's like there's a lot of good and then it's like why are the US Marshals only sending like a team of three who are very illiquid when you should be sending like a whole militia um

Phil 18:40
and a brand new guy a guy who has no business you know doing anything but stopping people for for speeding tickets my my cop a religious

Jam 18:52
my my head canon for that. To make everything just make more sense is that his name is just coincidentally rookie or they were sheet whatever you went with? No, yeah, their name is just their name is just rookie by pure coincidence. That's all it is. That's how you can do all this john wick nonsense.

Phil 19:15
simple but effective. I like that.

Jam 19:19
If there's anything I've learned about reading all these video game Titans, and trying to make them make sense is that you have to compromise a lot in what makes sense in logic, right? Oh, shortly. So some, some parent out there just had the last name rookie. Or named their child rookie. rook for short rook is a good name. I'll say that. Yeah, good

Phil 19:41
name. Yeah.

Jam 19:41
rook rook is a good name. And I did think it was kind of clever, but like I thought the character customization was maybe a little lacking. And the only time it really hears is the wanted poster, which I thought that's cute, but there's got to be more, which is probably why they went static. Do you want a named protagonists of Danny to be Male or Female almost harkens back to Far Cry to where you just got to select Who the fuck ever just like a bunch of people there is yeah the one thing I remember Far Cry too is that there was a guy from Tulsa Oklahoma and I know like I used to live in Oklahoma and that'll that'll tie into a lot of what I have to talk about here because oh boy Far Cry five is certainly an experience oh man you mentioned you know that was a john seat was the antagonist of the fucking yeah

Phil 20:29
very briefly action well Joseph seat is the is the well he's the overall but yeah no john Johnson he they mentioned briefly the father they do not mention Jacob or Eve or faith you've Jesus face some some religious day you know they don't really I don't mention Jacob or faith at all

Kevin Erhard 20:49
they there is a there's a brief one line about Jacob I think oh actually yeah there's something about the the the mountains or something like that

Phil 21:00
or something like that

Kevin Erhard 21:01
yeah yeah there's a brief with but but yeah faith not mentioned at all the book is all about how john seed is he feels like basically the the second most important person in the entire like overarching Far Cry five story the way he's kind of set up in in the book and then when you get to Far Cry five that kind of that sort of makes sense because like alright well his area is actually the he holds the actual town Yeah, he's holding the region that has has the town in it and I think

Phil 21:41
it makes sense that there yeah if they if the if they if Ubisoft or whoever like said to the author you know urban wait they were like hey listen probably the first bad guy that that the players are going to deal with is you know Joseph so so maybe maybe focus on him as the Big Bang novel or something like that so people are really coming john john yeah sorry they're all Jays and it's not cute anymore when you're trying to remember who's who but yeah I feel like they said something like he's gonna be the first big band so maybe focus on them a little bit get their blood pumping to take this guy out

Kevin Erhard 22:23
and so and jam going back to what you're saying and I think what you're saying about the the nerfing going back to like a fresh start is so you're saying that like the end game combat loop with all the upgrades feels right that feels like a good like combat gameplay loop and then when you go back to a beginning of the game without all that stuff, it is a nerf in the way it but it also kind of breaks the loop a little bit is that what you're saying?

Jam 22:56
Yeah, it does. And also thinking about what you said earlier about how like you beat the first third of the game and that was kind of enough piggybacking off of that it's like if you do enough side stuff, you could be at that power creep like at that level by the end of the first boss you could have you know, four weapon slots you could have Yeah, like all this sneak attack. I forgot all the powers if you're a completionist

Phil 23:21
you can be ready to fucking beat the game by the end of that section. Absolutely. Yeah.

Jam 23:28
And one of the problems that kind of you know, piggybacking off what you said you know, after defeating john seed is that you don't really get anything else after that you get all these meaningful upgrades you can get neat cars and weapons but like one thing I found is that like none of them are really locked off from the start Not to mention you can spend real money just to get the fancy skinned weapons removed and that transfer between your say files, but like movies, money I love money,

Phil 23:57
money money,

Jam 23:58
but it's like it doesn't feel like there's anything else for you to get you've got a bow you've got a sniper you've got another weapon and then a pistol and then you can tackle pretty much everything. It's cool to get it's cool to get all the you know the companions that come with each territory, you know, cheeseburger, peaches, Boomer, and then all the rest. I guess, Herc is also the poster child of Far Cry memory

Phil 24:20
as pretty much Yeah. Pretty much

Jam 24:25
transcending time to become a caveman with a very bad accent which just feels okay yeah, Far Cry primals a game but

Phil 24:34
that is a game I also beat that one twice that's Yeah, I'll get into my relationship with work in a minute.

Jam 24:41
Yeah, I think the takeaway is that like Far Cry five is gameplay is probably where it shines. I think Far Cry has always been about the gameplay because when you start to like pick apart the story, it gets a little goofy at times. Sometimes it's okay like okay weapons dealer in Africa is Far Cry to you know, doing some heinous shit go get him and help. liberate and then you get malaria and that's half the game um Far Cry three crazy man a cold I didn't finish Far Cry three I'm pretty much a pariah on the internet now.

Phil 25:12
Careful Careful Oh no.

Jam 25:14
And then Far Cry for pagan men and all that you know Far Cry has been about those two things crazy antagonist and pretty damn solid gameplay like I can't fault them because all they're antagonists like the main central ones interesting they've got a lot of potential good designs for what they're worth um good voice acting especially good voice acting Jesus Michael man oh god yeah like his big fucking break because a far cry three I wouldn't be surprised I mean Troy Baker's you know Troy Baker, but I wouldn't be surprised if part voice actors name who I'm totally not looking up I'm Greg Bird is who voices him Really?

Phil 25:58
Thank God it wasn't even anyone that

Jam 26:00
he would have voice in like this Greg Greg brick break has a y in his name I'm gonna cry Yeah, that guy whose name I totally didn't just google right now I remember Yeah, I remember it too It's so clear yeah Oh great. Great break yeah he's um I wouldn't be I wouldn't be surprised a few years online we start seeing more and more stuff he probably isn't yeah stuff that I haven't seen but all this to say is that as far as the gameplay is good, it does lacking you probably hit that cap a little too early and it doesn't really expand much beyond what you get like after the first sure like part or so. And then the other stuff falls apart I when I replayed Far Cry five like I was losing my shit my husband was watching me playing we're both kind of losing our shit like he's a little on the nose you know Joseph Joseph see this like behold a white horse and the fucking officers name is white horse one word they're singing Amazing Grace and like and this this for my husband is also especially kind of prevalent um my husband he begins Far Cry five is about religion about to about the touching to some territory here so if we have to cut it I apologize.

Kevin Erhard 27:21
Yeah, we're we're totally go for it. We've already paid we've already done a lot of the religions

Jam 27:27
full disclaimer, I respect whatever you want to believe in. I might not agree with it. I might not partake in it but I fully respect your desire to believe in it. I think everyone is absolutely free to believe in whatever whoever they want you that is your ironically enough God given right yeah or otherwise. Um, but my husband this was a little particular him because he's part of a community called Fundy snark uncensored

Phil 27:57
him already

Jam 27:59
Oh, yeah, I guess great For the uninitiated, which is to say the audience at home. Fundy Stark as a whole is about fundamentalist Christians, aka fundies, who take Christianity to a very, very well fundamentalist level. And funny snark is just kind of starting on them discussing them and maybe poking a bit fun at them because they post a lot on social media. Now funny Sankaran Sure, like Mondays aren't your like, typical. Oh, I go to church every Sunday via God's great cool kind of Christians. They're like, You ever heard of quiver fools? As they call themselves that? Because it's like, I don't know, like, see the exact reason but like,

Phil 28:41
treat the woman's vagina like a clown car? Yeah.

Jam 28:47
Yeah, and have as many children as you humanly can, which leads to hearing mixed results because they get a lot selfish about it. And it's like, Are you telling me a story today about how the mother in this one funny family got kicked out of, um, like the delivery room that her daughter was in, because she was trying to make it all about herself? Because she was telling us that her daughter was having kids and she wasn't and it was just kind of like your why God park? And it's not like, it's not like their children having children. Like she was an adult. You know, the daughter was an adult having kids, but it's like, um, oh, god, what was that one family? He told me about, um, the duggars who are very notorious in the funny story. Yeah, you might have heard of them. Oh, yeah, there. Yeah. Cuz they had a TV show. Yes. Uh, what was it? I'm not 18 kids and count. I think

Phil 29:37
it was. It was one of those and counting and then something like

Jam 29:40
that. 100 kid life. Yeah, something like that. Um,

Phil 29:43
Josh Duggar turned out to be a pet harassed and Yes. Who surprised

Jam 29:49
that that was a thread and a half where everyone was just like, Holy Lord. Ironically, um, and so for him watching this for him watching for my husband watching the Like Far Cry five go on. Um and for also he and I had just watched Midnight Mass great show a lot of religion in that we're kind of sitting here like this is really on the nose. This is this is just like he could have done more it's like oh okay you're hitting all the marks here overtly Christian imagery with the knot Christian cross, which Yeah, I mean I guess I joked when I first played it I joke it was Scientology. Um it's got

Phil 30:26
Yeah. Yeah,

Jam 30:30
yeah a little bit like if Scientology and Catholicism had like a very demented child. Um, and then and then it's like he's watching it's like, okay, checking all the boxes, all really Krishna imagery, praying the god rednecks with guns and then most of all amazing grace. I was just

Phil 30:47
gonna say yeah, singing Amazing Grace. It's always amazing grace. I went to church every Sunday for a long time. And and there are a lot of good songs in those hymnals I gotta say one thing you can't take away there's a pretty good songs. Why do we keep sticking with amazing fucking greats?

Jam 31:09
I guess you could say it's the normie Christian song

Phil 31:13
first. Yeah. But like,

Jam 31:16
I don't know about you. But if I heard singing about God, and it was an English I'd be 99% sure that it's about Christianity and it's a Christian song. It doesn't take much Alright, like another game wasteland three beautiful game. Um, it does Americana, like post apocalyptic Americana better than Fallout does at all. Highly recommended great CRP C is a CPG I guess it is a C RPG. Yeah, it

Kevin Erhard 31:41
is. Yeah. And it's also it's also created by Brian Fargo. Yeah, was the the president of interplay when interplay made Fallout?

Jam 31:53
Yeah, yes. So it's effectively the real Fallout three

Phil 31:58
and I mean you're not wrong Yeah.

Jam 32:02
They you

Phil 32:03
know you're you're you're truly speaking Kevin's language.

Jam 32:08
I need to finish that game. I need to finish that gameplay to DLC but the point I'm trying to make is that um, when dealing with religion in wasteland three they didn't stick with amazing grace they made a bang and asked like cover of down in the valley to pray I'm washed in the blood of the Lamb

Kevin Erhard 32:29
lamb and when I heard when at the very beginning of this of the game the first mission you're you hear a radio and it's washed up in the blood of the lamb is like oh man this this slaps and it's also really weird what is going on here? What is going on with this

Phil 32:50
there's so many good things in there they just always go with a lazy obvious choice there's so much good shit out there that is spooky as fuck Christianity is spooky as fuck especially if you're Southern Southern Gothic was terrifying.

Jam 33:05
Oh my god yes I lived in Oklahoma that's very deep south I love that photo you

Kevin Erhard 33:11
fill it fills fills fills it fills a Georgia boy man

Jam 33:19
but all this suffice to say is that like when it comes to Far Cry It feels like somebody wrote down a really really great idea it's like oh my god a crazy sandbox open world game with Far Cry gameplay but it's about religion. Like what that could mean entail. That's great. Why don't I only give it half the effort and kind of only go to the Midway mark and just kind of cruise along comfortably there without really breaking new ground

Kevin Erhard 33:46
and this that's actually that's a that's a really good point because Ubisoft is famous for always claiming we're not we're not political and and now that you point that out I can I'm like yeah i agree because it's a half measure it's it's it has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer but it doesn't it still doesn't say anything about the nature of religion or or or right wing conservatism and

Phil 34:21
then the tragedy of it is that it wouldn't take much to actually say something it's it's deeply frustrating it wouldn't take much really a tweak here and there and you can have a really powerful game that games critics and historians will be talking about for fucking decades Exactly. But they don't want to they don't want to you know run the risk of you know, missing out on they don't want to miss out on the money they can make this week for the for the legend of following years, you know, which is I mean, that's video games in a nutshell the industry anyway.

Kevin Erhard 34:58
Yeah, yeah, it's short term. Gain over long term I guess impact precisely because it's it's not necessarily even like it's not short term it's not short term versus long term financial it's short term versus long term I guess history acity or impact or whatever you want to call it just like their place in the industry is always going to be seen as this company and as more stuff has come out about Ubisoft it's actually become less and less surprising that it's a company that would take half measures on stuff like this because obviously they the leadership at the top was toxic It was a toxic work environment people were people were abused sexually harassed sexually assaulted it from the top from the very top it's it's it's a it's a rotting fruit fish rots from the head and I think when you look at Ubisoft you look at a company that they are only concerned with they're not concerned with the making they're not concerned necessarily with making art they're concerned with making as much money as possible as quickly as they can.

Phil 36:22
They don't they don't think about the future in the day Long's long term sense they care about how much am I going to make right now that's what my transactions are about

Kevin Erhard 36:33
and it's yeah it's a shame because when you do look at Far Cry five as this you know, Jamie mentioned there are some some balance issues with the upgrade pathing and stuff like that, but in terms of gameplay, actual core mechanics, there has never been a game where I felt so satisfied sneaking around the fucking tall grass with a bow Yeah, and just feels poppin people popping people in the face with a bow and arrow like I just I was like, Ooh, this feels nice you know highs

Phil 37:07
so good it's I think that's always been the issue. I think I we've talked we talked about this on one of the episodes of the book and yeah, and for me it's like I am I am kind of at a point where I don't even have a kid or a wife I have a fiance and let's close but you know, it's like I but I'm also at the point where I look at these 5060 7080 hour experiences and I'm just like oh no, thank you can I can I please have something that I would enjoy that would last eight hours that sounds great. Instead the only exception to that rule over the years has been far cry I keep coming back to Far Cry I have beaten and played three through five including primal including Blood Dragon all of them I played through all of them twice at least because they bring me so much comfort there's something about the gameplay that just gets its hooks into me that if it was an Assassin's Creed game and I got in there they're like hey, there's music over here that you can unlock and you get you you know find all the music notes in this area and you can find all the scientists notes over here if I end it becomes a collective on I go Go fuck yourself I'm gonna go I'm gonna go play Sonic the Hedgehog I have no interest in this archives The only exception to that rule and yeah it's so frustrating to me because the balance it's as a writer you'll look at that balance and it kind of wants to be you can tell the writers the writers kind of want you to think they're deep they're they're there Yeah, like that's like we're thinking big you know? We think about the big picture here and it's like like in three it was all about the insanity and you know Oh, someone heard that old saying about insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and in their fucking mind they based an entire storyline around it. You know, four was about family and how far you're going to go for that. And five, yeah, and fives religion and by the way, I bought the pagan men outfit and five, and every now and then I would see the wanted poster of myself and I go pagan. Oh, that's me, right? And they all creep right up to the edge of saying something. And then instead they give you hurt. You start to say something, and instead they go, wouldn't you rather meet a guy who has a weird obstacle course, based around these zombified? You know, bliss takers instead what it feels the most You feel like you're getting close to something, you know, smart and yes dare I say the word deep. You it Grand Theft Auto's itself yeah right and it goes into that over the top silliness which can be fun but it feels like you're getting whiplash the tone I shift and

Kevin Erhard 40:21
you know what's the biggest irony is I would say I would say great. gta five actually had things to say about like on the topic of masculinity. Oh yeah, I get it actually, it actually had statements and theses about like, the types of masculinity and toxic masculinity and all that it's not like it's not like the best that one thing in the world

Phil 40:47
Oh yeah.

Kevin Erhard 40:48
It's like it's like it's like oh well I could see they were they they they actually went over the line they didn't do what the Far Cry writers and just tiptoe up to it they were like they actually took a little step right not a big step yeah they took a step and said something you know and Red Dead Redemption to similar thing said something more about you know the the relationships that the found family and the relationships we build and all that stuff it's it's just a little bit more but then you have that you do have that tonal whiplash in particularly in Far Cry five and we're talking about with the with that with the with the book how absolution now jam we were talking about when we're talking about the book urban weight is basically he writes like Cormac McCarthy right? It is it is a very

Phil 41:44
urban urban. This video game franchise way more credit than maybe it was due let's put it that way.

Kevin Erhard 41:57
He gave he gave it he gave so much effort to a far cry novel. And it made me actually want to try to Yeah, bless his heart It made me actually want to try like read some of his other books. Because he he was he was giving it his all with with that Far Cry novel. He ended the whip. The total whiplash between Far Cry absolution Far Cry five is hilarious.

Phil 42:24
It is absolutely

Jam 42:27
what I what I read, I read absolution for myself and make a video on it. I'll touch on that. I'm excited to hear about that. Well, how different is count is Wait, is the book like darker? Like, what? How would you describe that tonal difference?

Phil 42:42
It's very serious. Very, very based on like, you know,

Kevin Erhard 42:48
it's very grounded.

Phil 42:50
Yes. And Kevin pointed out immediately when we started reading it, he was like they he describes the the the the forest a lot of deep descriptions of the place around around us and it's it's there's there's a very again, a very Cormac McCarthy, a man being a man but in a literary kind of way. Examining the toxicity of being a man while also taking part in it. Right and very, very smart. And, and a lot of introspection,

Kevin Erhard 43:30
there's a lot of introspection.

Jam 43:34
And then a far cry five just gives you Herc pretty much in a Goofy, Goofy bear named cheeseburger guys go to go to Twitter pet the dog Hey at Can you pet the dog follow our

Phil 43:47
account like I will say I will say possibly the greatest connection between the book and the video game is you do I get the cheeseburger origin story.

Absolute No, you get the cheeseburger origin story. And they don't know it's it's not

Unknown Speaker 44:07
confirmed.

Phil 44:09
That's the cheeseburger or

Kevin Erhard 44:12
cheeseburger origin story.

Jam 44:16
All the things, man and like I'm hearing all this I'm thinking about it more and more. You mentioned Blood Dragon. And that's kind of like now is the moment where I realized Wait a minute. I think Far Cry Blood Dragon might be one of the best Far Cry games, because it's not about anything and it's not trying to build anything. They just destroy him.

Phil 44:34
Exactly. Exactly. They just they're just like we're just gonna Yeah, you like these games? We're gonna do we're gonna do it.

Jam 44:41
Yeah, well, we'll just get the guy Um, I think it was terminate one of the actors from Terminator who played I forgot I don't watch Terminator in ages. But we'll get that actor to play come play Rex Colt. We'll just make it so over the top and Goofy. We're going to match our turn your brain off gameplay with a turn your brain off story. And then everyone loved it that's why everyone shut their pants when Far Cry three Blood Dragon came to steam and had like a wasn't recently announced that it was getting like an HD remaster or something like that is it there was there was some announcement A while ago they just showed off Blood Dragon I could have sworn maybe I'm crazy maybe I'm just Mandela affecting myself but like you may

Phil 45:22
remember that

Kevin Erhard 45:23
there's there's an there's an animated series being mad. That's probably what it is. Adi Shankar Adi Shankar who did the Castlevania S.T.A.R.S. Oh

Jam 45:33
god. Oh, thank god yeah, I'm trying to remember Wait, was he the good guy or the bad guy from the Castlevania series because they're one of the creators was like not a great dude and got nixed because of sexual harassment. Um, it wasn't i don't think i

Phil 45:48
everyone losing Yeah,

Kevin Erhard 45:50
I think it's already shot I think Adi Shankara is the I'm looking at his Wikipedia right now. And there is no nothing about him on his Wikipedia so i think i think this is the right one go to

Jam 46:03
Wikipedia immediately look for the controversy tab you can follow their work

Kevin Erhard 46:11
personal life or controversy okay it's good Yeah.

Jam 46:17
But like that's that's the thing as well it's like I'm thinking about Far Cry and it's like the best Far Cry games don't hammer home about politics that's my Far Cry one was such a success because it's just like you're this guy who's souped up on like I don't know what the fuck and then you go and stop a jog running plan I think it was also the gun running thing for Far Cry two and then Far Cry three tried being a little very high school philosopher very high school art yeah and then Far Cry four had Troy Baker that's all I know about it and Far Cry five it just continue the trend and apparently Far Cry six does the same fucking thing I haven't played it or read it and I'm not going to spoil anything I've read about it It's nothing to really know yeah

Kevin Erhard 46:59
all I know about Far Cry six is the get rid of the upgrade pads and it's only a weapon upgrades now and

Phil 47:05
I'm really nervous about

Jam 47:06
oh my lord that's

Phil 47:09
ah I haven't I haven't touched it yet. I haven't I've got so much to play but and I know and that's the thing I know when it because that's the thing when I start playing that it's going to be just that for for a little while so I need to put that off for a minute and thank god they took it off steam because honestly it's not on Steam and if it was on Steam I would not be here right now i'd

Jam 47:30
be playing God steam what happened did it get taken?

Phil 47:34
They've got it on the Ubisoft store and they've gotten on what's the other one? epic epic yeah okay

Jam 47:41
everything's on epic game store now

Phil 47:43
Yeah, they have apparently they have no interest in in putting it on Steam at the time.

Kevin Erhard 47:49
Ah so so because it's not so because it's not on Steam it's not the ad for it is not in front of your face every time

Phil 47:59
it was on steam for a little while when it was like in the preorder mode and I had it on my wish list and you know you get the little notice he listed it Yeah, yeah. And if it was if it was that's the thing if it was on Steam I would have bought it by now. Just Just the convenience of it and everything and the fact that it's on another platform it's so silly

Kevin Erhard 48:21
but there it is so one of the things about Far Cry in general is that it seems like when it is so there's there's like it in front of it there are two paths two paths diverge in the road. One is is make a statement about the topic that you're trying to actually make a statement about and just do it they could do that and make a very artistic game or they could just lean into the Saints Row of it all and be Saints Row.

Phil 48:55
Oh god I can't believe I forgot saints Saints Row there it is. Absolutely yeah that's that's that's kind of describe it. Yeah, pretty much

Kevin Erhard 49:05
I just be another Saints Row type of series. Yeah, and you'll be fine.

Jam 49:09
It really says a lot when you kind of sit down and think about yourself work ethic aside from all the allegations and you're like, man, I mean surprising and kind of disheartening when Mario and rabbids is a more political game than fucking Far Cry five is

Phil 49:24
amazing. She's just like

Jam 49:29
two ferrets. Mario and rabbits is just x calm re skinned to be much brighter and more colorful, but I digress. But like I Far Cry five, it has the potential to really hit the mark great gameplay and if they just really said something more than it'd be great because the music is pre music is pretty good atmosphere. They pretty much almost nail everything except the stuff that they're supposed to. I have no doubt in my mind that like despite the gameplay change they made I wouldn't die. That the Far Cry six gameplay is probably going to be pretty good

Phil 50:03
I bet it's gonna be beautiful because you know Far Cry has always prided itself on being you know a shit show with weapons and ammo in a beautiful locale and I bet it'll feel real good and I bet it'll creep right up to the edge of saying something and then dance merrily away.

Jam 50:21
Yep, that's that's my expectation too. And yeah. Oh man,

Phil 50:26
because that's what they've been doing, you know for the past 10 years, 15 years whatever.

Jam 50:31
And not just with not just with fucking not just with Far Cry but with our other titles to like, our like, Assassin's Creed doesn't really say much like that game has been on life support for ages. They almost did with Assassin's Creed three, and then they went in a completely different direction. I mean, Far Cry four was great, but not for any, like overly political reason. But again, I digress.

Phil 50:56
I think that was my favorite of the modern era for

Jam 51:00
everyone's favorite. Well, yeah, I could I could go back and replay it. And it makes me both afraid and very hopeful for Skull and Bones, which is just you're like Far, Far Cry you like Assassin's Creed ship combat. Here's a multiplayer game. And that's gonna be a hot dumpster fire when it releases in 2030.

Phil 51:17
And they're gonna end they're gonna get my money. That's why that's Yeah, we live in now. I hate it. That's gonna suck. I can't wait to give them my money. That's how it goes. Maybe it's just that baby. That's that's video games for you. That's It's so frustrating. Oh, God, I love this hobby

Jam 51:36
of ours. thinking thinking about I'm thinking about Far Cry five. And it really has overtones. And how it also misses some things, and how like it was way too on the nose like amazing grace that reminds me personally anecdote from my life that I mentioned in the server a couple times that I'm like Kevin, and I share and just kind of other people. Um, I used to date a very, very religious girl. And mind you this for me was a mistake in my life. plenty of reasons. And every time I think about Far Cry, I cannot help but think of her not because only whimsical Oh, she gave me this copy. No, but because she's very, very similar to a character that appears in there. Well, I'm like to an absurd degree. I can't name names because privacy reasons. Sure. But um, let's call it just for the sake of actually talking about this. a fake name for her. Eve. So hey, yay, look at that. Haha, doing the funny fortnight dance in my chair. Um, so Eve, um, I met her in college. And I always thought she was just kind of shy and introverted. And I was like, I don't want to know, but she seems really interesting. He was an artist. He was a painter. And we kind of chatted up and I could tell that, okay, she's, you know, she's fond of me. Like she and I were gonna get along pretty well. I got to the point where of course, I met her family that lived in Indiana, which is definitely an Ono moment. So after taking a 16 hour drive with this woman, um, which was also very awkward, because imagine sitting next to someone a 20, almost 21 year old woman, and she turns you and she's like, hey, Sam, what's sex? And I'm just like, trying not to crash after hearing

Phil 53:29
16 hours to explain it.

Jam 53:32
That's about how long it took China. I and I'm not joking. You're like, she asked because she didn't exactly know. And I'm like, you're 20 and you don't know that. And I was like, oh, man meeting her parents are gonna be fucking wild. So I met them. And the father looks like Ted from breaking bad. And you know, they're very, very, very Christian, very religious. And so I'm like, Okay, I guess I'm along for the ride now. Just because I guess I thought it was nice. I guess it was it just devolved into such a thing. So I go to church, and it's not a traditional Christian Church. It's it's one of those. How do I explain it? Maybe I should take Doom cold churches where it's like, yep. Because of this passage. No. And because of because of this very obscure Bible quote. And Donald Trump taking the presidency. The End Times are upon us, everybody. Oh, God and donate. Donate. Donate to go meet God in heaven. Yeah, really. Like, I'm sitting here, and I'm just like, this is a church. It was a mega church. It was one of those auditoriums, I had a stage and a band and all

Phil 54:45
that. I don't see how that's when that's when Oh, see, my dad's my dad's side of the family is from North Alabama and we and we've got you know, there plenty of them up there the doomsday cultists, but they have at least the The humility to be tiny, obscure church it's out in the middle of nowhere. Oh mega church.

Jam 55:06
Oh man dad had an auditorium a big screen and had the lyrics to glow yeah and I'm like okay I get those Twitter means now about Gloria as I'm clapping along awkwardly like yeah, this is great. What the fuck am I got myself into? And this whole time I'm noticing so many weird things like Eve. She was like, very stiff around her father just kind of robotically like stiffening up and turning her father in Atlanta bred me like, I love you daddy. I'm like, Oh, Jesus fucking Christ. I got scared because apparently this guy was nearly an Olympic runner. Like if you train anymore for the Olympics, he would have gone but I guess he chose family or some I don't fucking know. But dude ran at 16

Phil 55:52
I bet he's chosen family several times.

Jam 55:54
Uh, I think um but like all of this suffice to say that that was a much more religious experience and Far Cry five wise, let alone the fact that they played they paid for the plane ride back because we drove Eve's car. I remember going through the airport and just feeling sick like Oh God, there must have been just something in the water. Oh Jesus. So I go to a bar I'm 20 years old. And I'm just like, Can I get Can I get like a quart of alcohol and then give it to me without carding me I think they saw just affected me. It was such a draining experience. And then I also did NyQuil on the plane which probably didn't help my dad Yeah, and he was like you okay You look like you've been on a bender it's like I wish like he drove home thankfully so but man all this to say is that religion if you do it right should be draining in a very special kind of way my five Far Cry five didn't feel that way. It was something that I feel kind of this funny was great. I'm

Phil 57:01
just good to feel okay. You felt a little superior you know it just Yeah.

Jam 57:05
Oh, I also saw a zebra in Indiana. That was cool. That's about it. Um I'm not shitting you I saw like a zebra and a llama. They're just in a pen together and they're hanging out and I'm just like it's them. There they are.

Phil 57:20
There they are a zebra and the llama and you're like maybe we can all get along

Jam 57:23
maybe we can maybe maybe oh man in the true spirit of Far Cry five we all we all work better together that's that's the takeaway

Phil 57:32
I think that's the message really I think of a more appropriate message to go with Far Cry five

Jam 57:38
yeah also by the way if you buy our other products you get a cool costume you want to play Rainbow Six Siege operator will spend money oh you do you want to know you do you want you know you want the Far Cry outfit? Not far craft the Assassin's Creed outfit I don't know I'm getting confused to get origins which I got for free because buddy got a graphics card just gave me the code. I was like thanks. I played it. I wouldn't five minutes.

Kevin Erhard 58:01
I wouldn't mind playing as SEO in Far Cry.

Jam 58:06
It works now might have been a costume in three or four. If not, that's a shame. I know it was a costume in Metal Gear Solid four. I can't give you my name. It's yo editori

Phil 58:15
my top two favorite Assassin's Creed games. Number four, playing a pirate. That was actually yar really worthwhile all the good sea shanties easy. Because I was in a in a sea shanty group in high school before Tick Tock was even a glimmer and it's well there's that's my hipster crab. And the second one would probably be that shitty. QB one that they made for the phone. And the rest of them.

Jam 58:47
I hate that's fair.

Phil 58:50
I hate it. Because every time I start to enjoy it, they learn man, and then they yank me out and it's like, Oh, and there's this weird conspiratorial war between you know, in your modern times again, and like I don't want to be modern times that was a pirate. Oh my god. Like it's just let me be a pirate. Just let me be a pirate for when we inevitably read. I'll tell you what jab you wouldn't be on when we read an assassin's creed book.

Jam 59:18
Yes, because there's a billion Assassin's Creed books. So good luck. No, there's there's a whole list I found the thing that inspired me to make game library was I was browsing Wikipedia. And I found that I found um, an article just list of novels based on video games. I'm like, wait, this is the opposite of like the Witcher or Metro where the novel came first the game came after. This is you know the novel is based off the fucking the novel is based off the game. And I guess it also started because the first Thai novel I ever read was Mass Effect ascension. Mass Effect is a series very near and dear to my heart very near and dear to my heart. I hate it. I love it, but I hate it. I love it too. I'm looking through the listening it's like I'm off the top of my head 510 there's ic 15 on this list Assassin's Creed novels, not to mention the wild novels. I'm never touching wow because I don't like MMOs in the first place but

Phil 1:00:16
I am Phil I am ups I'm set with how much I enjoy. Wow. And I can't I just can't go back to it.

Jam 1:00:24
That under notables

Kevin Erhard 1:00:26
speaking of a lot of novels, Phil is trying to trick me into reading Warhammer 40k I said that's just endless

Phil 1:00:37
basically trying to trip him as he steps down a flight of stairs Yeah. Because if I'm gonna fall down this flight forever I need a friend

Jam 1:00:48
you need someone to send down to hell with pretty much you know just like Resident Evil five slogan face your fears together I don't remember what the slogan was that

Phil 1:00:57
game it was it was it's terrible.

Kevin Erhard 1:01:01
Oh man so we've I think we've determined the core issues of Far Cry five we hate it we love it. There's things that are okay about it. There's things that are great about it. There's things that are really fucking down bad it

Phil 1:01:18
just put our heart so hands over our hearts and start singing the star spangled banner at the top of our lips.

Jam 1:01:24
Oh my god. Yes.

Kevin Erhard 1:01:25
That's pretty much it.

Jam 1:01:28
Hell yeah.

Kevin Erhard 1:01:31
Where can people find you on the internet?

Jam 1:01:34
Okay, so my name is confusing. So write this down. I'll probably change it in the future. If I do. I'll make a big like billboard campaign about it. Um, it's at Jam Jam, Jam Jam mule? That's for jams, Neil. I'm spelled like Samuel because that's a funny thing on very briefly, I'll explain when I got my voter registration card because in the States, you have to register to vote. When I got it, I guess they misread my name. I signed it with an S but they like oh Jameel. So I have an official government document that says My name is Jamel. Amazing. So I took it and ran. But if you look up Jamel and you see klonoa That's me. At Jam Jam Jam Jam you'll on Twitter. Same thing for YouTube. I have a series called game library very soon. I'll have an hour long episode out where I talk about Arkham Knight the religious Gambit. Check it out. Watch it with a friend. Tell your friends um, cry that it took forever. Have a great time. Get me to 100 followers on Twitter. Let's go.

Kevin Erhard 1:02:38
alias 100 100 followers on Twitter and that is almost there. That is the new goal.

Jam 1:02:45
Listening. I'm at 96 I was at 99 like a few days ago and then I guess they decided people decided to unfollow me. Thanks. Thanks weird Japanese v tuber that followed me for five minutes. Had my hopes up. Even some shoe on YouTube just to be nice.

Kevin Erhard 1:03:03
I gotta go fix v tubers. Those v tubers are coming in jobs. That's sure I'm talking. I'm looking right at you dark fry.

Jam 1:03:15
What are you gonna get some excellent, far, far, dark Friday. I quit. I'm

Phil 1:03:21
done here.

Jam 1:03:24
What a hearty talk about America on a very beautiful America.

Kevin Erhard 1:03:29
Well that about that about does it for this episode of pixelate. I hope you all have enjoyed it. If you can go and follow us on Twitter at pixel at pod and if you're listening to us on Apple, remember to scroll down to the bottom and hit five stars and leave us a nice five star review. It truly helps our discoverability in that search platform within the apple podcasts. Otherwise, remember to follow and share. Share us with everybody. Share us with your family. Share us with your friends. Share us with your enemies, because your enemies deserve good podcast too. Good night, everybody.

Phil 1:04:10
Bye bye and I

Transcribed by https://otter.ai