Far Cry Primal Analysis

Far Cry Primal Analysis

David Hunter

July 17, 2017

1 Overview

Far Cry Primal was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft in March, 2016. It is the fifth major release in the Far Cry series, and the fourth to be developed by Ubisoft. Like its predecessors, it is a first-person open-world action game with a heavy emphasis on dynamic events and sandbox gameplay. The main difference comes from the setting: whereas from Far Cry through Far Cry 4, the action is set in roughly modern times, Far Cry Primal is set in 10,000 B.C. Where the previous games feature a large number of ranged and melee weapons, plus many different types of vehicles (including cars, trucks, boats, and hang gliders), in Far Cry Primal the player is limited to two kinds of clubs, three kinds of bows, an upgradable spear, assorted traps and bombs, and a dozen animal companions with various abilities.

2 Formal Elements

2.1 Players

The player takes control of a caveman called Takkar in Far Cry Primal. He belongs to a tribe called the Wenja who inhabit a fictional region in central Europe. They have been hunted and scattered by another tribe call the Udam, in particular their leader Ull. After meeting a survivor of these raids, Takkar begins a quest to give his people a future. This is a strictly single-player experience, and it is played 100% from the first-person perspective. Like the other games in the franchise since Far Cry 3, Takkar has various skills which unlock after receiving enough skill points.

2.2 Objectives

The main objective is to remove the threats that face the Wenja. These are primarily the Udam and Izila tribes, but to meet them Takkar must gather Wenja with skills to assist him. Accomplishing this usually means finding them, performing quests to get them to join one’s village, then gathering materials and performing more quests to upgrade their hut and advance their story line.

2.3 Rules

2.3.1 Combat and Hunting

The player will spend a large portion of time in combat or hunting animals. In either case, the enemies or animals will remain unaware of the player as long as they stay out of their perceptual range. This is influenced by the time of day, the player’s animal companion, and the type of enemy/animal. Depending on the player’s current skills and the type of enemy/animal, the player may be able to perform a takedown (a stealthy one-hit kill) if the player can get close enough.

Otherwise, the combat follows a typical melee combat scenario for FPS games: the player can see what weapon they are holding in their hands, and when the player attacks an animation plays showing Takkar swing or throw his weapon. Depending on the weapon and the enemy, a certain amount of damage will be done. Once defeated, the body can be searched for item or materials, which is especially important in the case of animals, as skins are critical components for upgrading weapons and buildings in your village.

Certain animals may be tamed upon learning the Beast Master skills. These provide different benefits, such as attacking enemies stealthily, marking nearby animals on the HUD, or being ride-able.

2.3.2 Navigation

The player incongruously has a minimap on their HUD, but this can be disabled for a more realistic experience. The world map has the clutter that is typical for Ubisoft games: icons for outposts, icons for plants, icons for animals, icons for quests, icons for collectible x, collectible y, and collectible z, etc. Moving around the world is mostly accomplished on foot, through fast travel to a bonfire the player controls, or by using one of the ride-able beasts. The player may also swim and can use a grappling hook or vines to climb, but the climbing sections are hand-placed and not procedurally generated as in Assassin’s Creed or Dying Light.

2.3.3 Leveling

The leveling system forces the player to accumulate 2000 XP (2500 for higher levels) for actions such as killing an enemy, completing a quest, killing an animal, or discovering a location. This XP is converted into one skill point, which is used to unlock a skill. The basic skills all cost one skill point, but later ones require 2, 3, 4, 5, or sometimes 6 skill points (the requirement generally increases the deeper one goes in the skill tree) in order to unlock.

2.3.4 Equipment and Inventory

As is par for the course on Ubisoft games by now, there is no inventory screen as such. Weapons are unlocked through story progress and optional quests.

1. Spear: In between the clubs in terms of damage and speed
2. One-handed Club: Quick but with less damage
3. Two-handed Club: Heavy and slow but does lots of damage
4. Bow: Fires quickly but without much damage
5. Long Bow: Most powerful bow in game with best range
6. Double Bow: Fires two arrows at once
7. Meat: Used to lure animals for taming or so the player may escape
8. Bombs: Come in different varieties, the number is determined by the bomb belt level.
9. Grappling hook: Used to climb shear cliffs

2.4 Procedures

There are several procedures that the player will engage in during play.

1. Liberate outpost: This unlocks a new fast travel location. There are many different levels of difficulty and several different varieties of outpost. Some are inside caves, others on cliffs, others still on islands, etc. The number and level of enemies is also different for each. Early in the game, the player receives an owl, which they may use to scout the terrain, marking enemies, and even eliminating some of them. Later, the owl may be upgraded to drop bombs on the enemies.
2. Hunt animal: Animals provide many materials that Takkar can use, both for upgrading weapons and for upgrading huts in the village. Certain animals are also
3. Gather plant/wood/rock: Plants, wood, and rock varieties function similarly to animals parts
4. Complete dynamic event: The world of Far Cry Primal is teeming with dynamically generated events. These could involve rescuing a captive Wenja, killing a group of invading Udam, protecting a group of Wenja from assault, etc. If successfully completely, they usually result in an increase in your village’s population, allows more resources to be collected automatically each day.
5. Complete quest: These are similar to quests in other games.

2.5 Resources

2.5.1 Abstract

• Health: Health measures how much damage the player can take.
• Stamina: This is not explicitly represented to the player in any way. You may only run or swim quickly until your stamina runs out.
• Breathe: The player may swim underwater for as long as their breathe lasts. This is only indicated by a gasping sound when you are about to run out.
• XP: XP is awarded for completing quests, killing enemies and animals, and discovering locations.
• Skills: These include increases in running speed, reduced noise when moving stealthily, unlocking new beasts to tame, etc.

2.5.2 Physical

• Weapons: The player can carry a limited number of each weapon type. All of them can be set on fire and thrown, with the exception of the bow and arrow, which is automatically ranged.
• Beasts: The player can tame 17 different beasts. Once tamed, they can be called at will from a menu. If they die for any reason, they can be brought back using Red Leaf plants.
• Meat: Used for luring animals and for making healing items.
• Rocks: Used for making weapons and upgrading huts.
• Woods: Used for making weapons and upgrading huts.
• Plants: Used for making healing items
• Skins: Used for making weapons and upgrading huts.

The amount of meat, rocks, etc that the player can carry is determined by the various bags and pouches, and how the player has upgraded them.

2.6 Conflicts

The player experience man versus man and man versus nature in a very intense way in Far Cry Primal. The predators are usually quite aggressive, and even the larger herbivores will defend themselves if they feel threatened. The land teems with bands of hostile tribe members that will kill the player on sight.

The player does not experience much conflict of choice, however.

2.7 Boundaries

2.7.1 Map

The map is quite large, but the player is limited in the actions available in particular areas. For instance, not every cliff or ledge is scalable in every place: the player must pay attention to vine and grappling hook anchor placement.

2.7.2 NPCs

NPCs offer very limited interaction, and the player has little choice of interaction type or outcome.

2.7.3 Items

The player is limited in how much they can carry of various items.

2.8 Outcomes

There is only one outcome possible in Far Cry Primal: the player has killed all the Wenja’s enemies.

3 Dynamic Elements

Far Cry Primal is at its best when it is unpredictable. When you sneak your way through most of an enemy outpost, eliminating sentries as you go, only to stumble across two enemy villagers in a hut fucking. Or when you are hunting deer at night, and your wolf sees an enemy, kills it, and then pees on it. Or when you are completing a randomly generated rescue mission, and stumble upon a really rare lion species, then get ambushed by an Udam raiding party, and must dive head long into a river a hundred meters below you.

3.1 Patterns

This section focuses on game patterns as discussed by Ernest Adams and Joris Dormans in Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design.

3.1.1 Static Engine

The player is awarded XP at a relatively static rate throughout the game.

3.1.2 Dynamic Engine

If the player rescues enough Wenja, they will receive resources each day and an increase to the rate at which they receive XP, making increasing the number of villagers an investment.

3.1.3 Dynamic Friction

The higher skills require increasing numbers of skill points to unlock.

3.1.4 Slow Cycle

There is a dynamic day/night cycle, which affects gameplay in numerous ways. Predators appear in increased numbers and are much more aggressive at night, but it is easier to stay unnoticed by enemies and to take over outposts stealthily.

3.1.5 Playing Style Reinforcement

The leveling system also contains the playing style reinforcement pattern. If you rely on your beasts, you can invest in unlocking better beasts, causing you to rely on them even more.

4 Dramatic Elements

Like the previous games in the series, it features a strong story.

4.1 Characters

Far Cry Primal features an interesting cast. The first character you encounter after the tutorial opening section is Sayla, a Wenja woman who hears the screams of her slaughtered villagers unless she surrounds herself with the ears she cuts off of their murderers. Then there is Wogah, a one-armed tinkerer who pees on you and calls you ”Piss Man,” Karosh, the one-eyed fighter who headbutts his best friends, Tensay, the shaman who makes you drink increasingly bizarre blood potions to induce spirit visions, etc. The voice acting and animation is great, and the fact that a proto-Indo-European language is spoken by all characters really adds to the atmosphere. The only hitch is Urki, who speaks with a deliberately idiotic American accent.

Even the villains are interesting. The main one, Ull, even evokes sympathy at the end.

4.2 Story

The story revolves around Takkar’s quest to remove threats to his tribe. He needs to recruit a hunter, fighter, shaman, builder, and a warrior from each of the two tribes threatening the Wenja. Completing these allows Takkar to confront Ull at the end.

5 Conclusion

Far Cry Primal is different enough from the main series games to be interesting, but not different enough to make the player forget that enemy AI has been carried over from the main series, as have the mechanics of capturing outposts, exploring the map, gathering resources, and hunting animals. Of course, thematically, these mechanics fit the game wonderfully, and the addition of taming animals both fits the setting and is a great new mechanic. It is a shame that more could not be done with the companions, for example going hunting or raiding together.

5.1 Potent Elements

The beasts and the setting are the highlight. The world feels like a primeval, prehistoric wilderness, and the beasts are so much fun to ride, command, and pet.

5.2 Areas for Improvement

The carried over mechanics had already gotten stale in Far Cry 4, and more needed to be done to make this one different. The missed opportunities of the companions, or more management of one’s village, for example, could have changed the game and made it more dynamic.