History VideoGame / FarCry4

--> [[spoiler: Your mission was simple: collect intelligence. Not sleep with the enemy. Not fuck their commander. Not bear the false king a daughter.]]

** With its [[spoiler:secret ending]], the game makes a massive dig at [[spoiler:the inevitable power fantasy of a traditional melodramatic video game conflict by letting the main character achieve what he wants without firing a single shot. The last line of the secret ending also deconstructs the entire idea of providing a secret pacifist deconstruction ending to a game whose appeal is all about gratiutious violence, with Pagan Min quipping "Oh, good. You feel better now? Get it out of your system? Perfect. Maybe ''now'' we can ''finally'' shoot some goddamn ''guns!''"]].

** With its [[spoiler:secret ending]], the game makes a massive dig at [[spoiler:the inevitable power fantasy of a traditional melodramatic video game conflict by letting the main character achieve what he wants without firing a single shot]].

** The name of the mission mission "Free Willis" is an obvious take on ''Film/FreeWilly''.

---> Your dreams of re-enacting a 1950s New York City Street gang dance fight are dashed when this turns out to be a comb instead of a knife.
** "Oculus Spiff" and "Go Bro" are a reference to and bland name version of some well known technological items, such as Oculus Rift and [=GoPro=].

* WelcomeToCorneria: Of course there are the usual suspects with both enemy and friendly dialogue, but a more glaring example is Rabi-Ray-Rana's radio broadcasts, which either provide background exposition or comment (and [[LampshadeHanging hang lampshades]]) on the player's actions and accomplishments. His spiels are usually hilarious the first or even second time. They get old after the third or fourth or fifth or sixth or seventh time the player has to listen to him ramble about how clean his asshole is due to his owning a bidet.

** One of the many pieces of ShopFodder Ajay can loot is a syringe filled with glowing liquid, with its item description quipping something along the lines of "if this was a failed underwater utopia, you wouldn't hesitate to jam it into your arm" - a clear reference to ''[[VideoGame/Bioshock1 Bioshock]]'' and its infamous [[BodyHorror plasmid injections]].

--> Your dreams of re-enacting a 1950s New York City Street gang dance fight are dashed when this turns out to be a comb instead of a knife.

** A U-Play reward weapon is the A.J.M. 9 pistol from ''VideoGame/FarCry3BloodDragon'' - itself a shout-out to ''Franchise/RoboCop''.

-->''An M712 enhanced with a silencer, extended magazine, and optics for quicker handling to ensure [[AdaptationalSelfDefense you always shoot first.]]''

--> "This orange plastic whistle produces an ear-piercing noise that sounds exactly like a certain [[Music/CelineDion French-Canadian pop diva]]."

* DifficultButAwesome: The [[AsTheGoodBookSays LK1018]] rocket launcher has a scope which [[PlayerGuidedMissile guides]] the rocket to where the crosshair is pointing, so long as the player is aiming through it. Undoubtedly useful, but it comes with the risk of leaving yourself exposed and unable to retaliate to enemy fire as the player directs the rocket to its target. One needs to secure a well-hidden vantage point before using it. It also has a second mod that turns the missile into a makeshift mortar, powerful enough to wipe out a convoy or small outpost with a single shot, but has even more risk than the standard scope. Sucsessfully mastering this weapon will trivialize most of the more dangerous encounters in the game.

* DifficultButAwesome: The [[AsTheGoodBookSays LK1018]] rocket launcher has a scope which [[PlayerGuidedMissile guides]] the rocket to where the crosshair is pointing, so long as the player is aiming through it. Undoubtedly useful, but it comes with the risk of leaving yourself exposed and unable to retaliate to enemy fire as the player directs the rocket to its target. One needs to secure a well-hidden vantage point before using it.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: When's the last time clouded leopards and dholes appeared in a videogame?

* UpToEleven: ''Far Cry 4'' takes just about everything from ''Far Cry 3'' and gives it this treatment.
** Signature weapons are one of the most visible instances. ''Far Cry 3'' only had one per category, with any further than that being outside additions through uPlay (the "Cannon" Model 629) or pre-ordering (the "Predator" M-700). Now there's closer to twenty of them, so many that some of them have ridiculously-easy unlock requirements (the Stormer requires tearing down a ''single'' propaganda poster) and that some of them really aren't much of an upgrade (even the in-game store menu can't find much to talk up about the Sixer, which is unlocked simply by ''visiting the store''). Where some underwhelm, however, there are others that are even more ridiculous than the old ones - the Buzzsaw, the Signature MG 42, pretty much [[GameBreaker breaks what remains of the game at that point in half]].
** Animal attacks are much more common because of how many types of animals there are now. Forget the old tigers or bears, now depending on where you are you may get ambushed by a pack of dholes or wolves, or have to deal with a honey badger or two varieties of leopard, or get trampled by a couple yaks or a rhino, to say nothing of the omnipresence of eagles - and any one of these can and will easily lead into any other.
** Side activities now include random "Karma Events", supply trucks you can either destroy to deny them to the Royal Army or hijack to aid the Golden Path, and "Pagan's Wrath" convoys which consist of three trucks blaring propaganda. Except for the latter, which follow preset paths that usually require you to intentionally seek them out, it's perfectly possible to get hit by a constant stream of all of these. Find a karma event to rescue a hostage from a single Royal Army grunt, fifteen feet later a supply truck will try to run you down, fifteen feet past which another karma event to interdict a Royal Army courier carrying some variety of plans, fifteen feet past which yet another event will ask you to assist a Golden Path squad in putting down a similarly-sized squad of Royal Army soldiers, fifteen feet past which another supply truck or Royal Army courier will drive past. [[FromBadToWorse Any of these can also be interrupted by another animal attack, as well.]] Fortunately, once you take out one of the four Fortresses, you're finally allowed time to breathe between karma events (and supply trucks stop spawning) while in its area of influence.

* OverzealousUnderling: TheGeneralissimo Pagan Min's EstablishingCharacterMoment has him nonchalantly kill a soldier who gets overenthusiastic and opens fire on a busful of people he was supposed to detain.
-->'''Pagan:''' I distinctly remember staying ''stop'' the bus. Yes, ''stop'' the bus. Not ''shoot'' the bus...
-->'''Soldier:''' It got out of control.
-->'''Pagan:''' Out of control. I hate when things get out of control. ''[Stabs him in the throat]'' You had one fucking job and you couldn't fucking do that!

** Ishwari could have saved her son a ton of trouble if she had been more detailed in her instructions, something like: "Ajay, [[spoiler:I had a daughter named Lakshmana with Pagan Min, the ruler of Kyrat. Please place my ashes with hers, they should be at the palace. Be careful around Pagan, he's a little unstable."]] Instead she chooses to be deliberately vague, simply saying "the journey will tell you more than I ever could" and allowing for the entire game to happen

* RedOniBlueOni: The co-leaders of the Golden Path, Amita and Sabal, come off as this, and regularly switch which oni they are. On one hand, Amita believes the way to victory is to create a brighter future for Kyrat while Sabal wants to preserve the traditions and legends of the Kyrati people. On the other hand, Sabal can be rather cold and harsh, while Amita is more passionate about helping the citizens of Kyrat.

* BossInMookClothing: Rare animal variations encountered in the Fashion Week sidequests play this straight, but regular rhinoceros will do a good number on you. Even with 4 bars of health, you can still be reduced to barely any health if one hits you head on. And they topple cars too, which can instantly kill you. [[MadeOfIron And they take A LOT of bullets]]. And their attacks have a very high chance of knocking human-sized targets to the ground, so getting hit once not only hurts like hell but usually results in a stun-lock that's next to impossible to escape from. [[ThisIsGonnaSuck And of course there is a rare rhino named Karkadann]], which has even more health, deals even more damage, is encountered on a narrow bridge full of cars to throw at you, and needs to be killed with a [[ShortRangeShotgun shotgun of all things.]] Happy hunting. The boss part is played especially, painfully straight if you compete in Shanath Arena where one combat mode pits you against a rhino as the final wave, which is a lot nastier than it sounds because you almost never face it with particularly good weapons, tend to be low on ammo, and have little room to outmanoeuvre the relentlessly charging behemoth.

** One of the many pieces of VendorTrash Ajay can loot is a syringe filled with glowing liquid, with its item description quipping something along the lines of "if this was a failed underwater utopia, you wouldn't hesitate to jam it into your arm" - a clear reference to ''[[VideoGame/Bioshock1 Bioshock]]'' and its infamous [[BodyHorror plasmid injections]].

** The "[[VendorTrash Safety Whistle]]" description.

* VendorTrash: Oh yeah. There are also a lot of Call Backs to previous games.

* MinimalistRun: Here are the parameters for one possible run: Don't do any sidequests. Don't buy anything from the store. Don't take any skills. Don't craft any bags. Don't take over any Bell Towers or Outposts. Don't destroy any Propaganda Posters or Masks of Yalung.
** You may use only those weapons you've looted from enemies or otherwise found in the world. You may use the store to change your loadout.
** You may do Karma Events if you like, but since they won't reward you with anything useful except looted weapons, you might as well not bother.
** Don't bother looting any chests or enemies; you won't be able to use anything you pick up that way.

The fourth game in the ''Franchise/FarCry'' series (a thematic sequel, but with references to ''VideoGame/FarCry1'', ''VideoGame/FarCry2'', and ''VideoGame/FarCry3''), set in Kyrat, a war-torn fictional nation in the Himalayas.

** As it turns out, most of the worshipers are nice people... who have no problem with arranged marriages of ''very'' young girls to older men. [[spoiler:Or mass slaughter of blasphemers in Sabal's ending]][[note]]though this could be something Sabal's followers are unique in doing[[/note]]. And, as it turns out, the priesthood was hoarding enough wealth to buy their way out of Pagan's regime, but didn't dare sell any of it to outsiders, even as their people were suffering for eighty years. Pagan Min lampshades this, claiming that before he stole Kyrat, the temple stole its wealth.[[note]]wo members of the Golden Path prove they're better than this by selling relics to archaeologists for much-needed supplies[[/note]].

** As it turns out, most of the worshipers are nice people... who have no problem with arranged marriages of ''very'' young girls to older men. [[spoiler:Or mass slaughter of blasphemers in Sabal's ending]][[note]]though this could be something Sabal's followers are unique in doing[/note]]. And, as it turns out, the priesthood was hoarding enough wealth to buy their way out of Pagan's regime, but didn't dare sell any of it to outsiders, even as their people were suffering for eighty years. Pagan Min lampshades this, claiming that before he stole Kyrat, the temple stole its wealth.[[note]]wo members of the Golden Path prove they're better than this by selling relics to archaeologists for much-needed supplies[[/note]].

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Not Kyrat itself, which s made up and can have whatever history it wants, but in a few places in the game it is stated that Kyrat was used as a staging point for the British to invade India. The Britiah takeover of India was a gradual process rather than a singular invasion and came up from outposts in southern India, not from the Himalayas where Kyrat is supposed to be.

* WarElephants: Kyrat features wild elephants. They can be manipulated into trampling enemies, attacking enemy fortresses or even be ridden by Ajay with the right skill. Oddly they seem to have picked a side in the civil war, as they will attack Royal Army soldiers on sight even when not ridden but will not bother Ajay, civilians or Golden Path members unless provoked.

* WarElephants: Kyrat features wild elephants. They can be manipulated into trampling enemies, attacking enemy fortresses or even be ridden by Ajay with the right skill.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: A monkey is seen in the bus during the intro. Considering Hurk's behavior last time, this is to be expected. There are many monkeys seen in friendly towns, and they're among the list of prey that never attacks you.

* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Ajay makes some rather small protestations to this effect but finds himself swiftly swept up in the Golden Path's cause. [[{{Justified}} This may be due to the fact he's already killed several of Pagan Min's soldiers by the time he reaches the Golden Path's sanctuary and the dictator has already shown interest in "acquiring" Ajay]]. He also does admit that he owes the Golden Path for saving him in the beginning. By the time he meets Hurk, just after the opening/tutorial act, he's saying, "We're the Golden Path."

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: Ajay Ghale, having grown up in America, pronounces his own name "AJ Gale". However, since his name is natively Kyrati, everyone else in the game, Pagan Min included (though not more recent foreign arrivals, like Yogi & Reggie or Willis), pronounces it "Ah-Jay Gah-Lay". [[LampshadeHanging Rabi-Ray-Rana of Radio-Free-Kyrat comments on this]].[[note]] In India and Nepal, his name would be pronounced Uh-Jey Guh-Ley[[/note]]

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: [[spoiler:If the player makes Ajay wait in the dining room at the beginning of the game like Pagan Min asks him to, the game is much shorter. After about ten minutes of real time, Pagan will return and simply take Ajay by helicopter over to Lakshmana, where he can put his mother's ashes to rest like she asked him to, sparing the drama of the entire game. Even Pagan lampshades this if you chose not to sit still and encounter him later in the game.]]

** [[HandWave Somewhat justified]] when you remember Pagan Min essentially has an animal breeding program in Kyrat that successfully introduced a ton of wildlife that was on the verge of extinction to numbers in the 100s, or the fact this isn't [[VideoGame/FarCry3 the first time]] ''Far Cry'' had invasive species. [[FridgeBrilliance Details]].

** Ishwari could have saved her son a ton of trouble if she had been more detailed in her instructions, something like: "Ajay, [[spoiler:I had a daughter named Lakshmana with Pagan Min, the ruler of Kyrat. Please place my ashes with hers, they should be at the palace. Be careful around Pagan, he's a little unstable."]]
* PossessionImpliesMastery: Continuing the trend from the previous game, the main character is an expert with every weapon he finds, from compound bows and handguns to massive machine guns and automatic grenade launchers that shouldn't even be able to be fired from a standing position, despite not having any prior weapons training beyond what you get during a brief stint with the US Army.

* GodDamnBats: Just about all of the wildlife. Honey badgers [[MemeticMutation don't give a shit]], demon fish will eat you, [[BearsAreBadNews bears hate you]], wolves and dholes will swarm you, eagles will swoop out of the sky to assault you, and rhinos will straight-up murder you. However, with the right perk, you can ride elephants into battle.