Far Cry 3 writer lends insight on protagonist

“We’re going to change it all up”

Chris KempJuly 29, 2012

CVG recently interviewed Jeffrey Yohalem, the man penning the Far Cry 3 script. They were able to discuss a lot of the game’s story, including the question everyone wants to ask, “Why is everyone on Far Cry’s islands so insane?”

According to Yohalem, “The island exists on multiple planes. It contains pieces of history, the Japanese were there for a while and there’s some stuff with mining companies… it basically represents a clash of cultures and globalisation. You’ll see all kinds of situations where one culture has created something and then another culture has come in and painted over pieces of it. It’s really about our modern world. “

Yohalem also goes into detail on new protagonist Jason Brody, describing him as “not jaded”.

“The player starts the game and then asks, “What is this world, who am I in this world and what does it mean when I shoot people? What does it mean when I go on side missions and gain XP?” All of these things are called into question in this story. It’s a game about the player playing a game, so it’s going to be about games and what it means to be the player, but at the same time it’s about Jason and what it means to be outside of society,” he explained.

Yohalem notes that there will be a psychological aspect to the game, the story won’t simply blow over the fact that Jason is an average joe-turned killing machine.

“The player rapidly becomes great at the shooting mechanic so Jason rapidly becomes good at the shooting mechanic – but Jason is affected psychologically by that. The player will play through levels that reflect Jason’s psychology. The player will then have an opportunity to examine what their actions in the game mean to them.”

Yohalem promises plenty of surprises – this won’t be your standard FPS fare.

“There are all kinds of blurring of lines in this game. A medium is right for this exploration when the same path has been trodden so many times that people expect it. That’s the best place to be in as an author if you really want to shake things up. It’s lazy if the creators say, “We’ll take the path the players expect, because that’s what they want.” In order to examine any art form you have to tread the path and then break it. So you’re going to see all kinds of setups where the player will say, ‘Oh, this is going to be like this other game,’ because they’ve been taught by the industry to think that. And then we’ll change it all up.”