Hi, so I just took a trip down to Mike's Bar, and got offered a mission by my buddy, Michele.

Now, it's been a pretty long time since I did one of these. I mean, I only truly did it for the achievement. But my question to you is:

Are the Side Missions neccessary?

And when I ask if they're neccessary, I don't mean are they relevant. I mean, what sort of reward are we gaining from them?

They increase reputation, but the only trait I've noticed from that is that you'll be shot on sight alot quicker.

And they also increase your history with them. Now, I've been through all the Buddy Side Quests before throughout the Main Faction Missions - just to get the Achievement. And I didn't notice a single thing when my history increased with my Buddy.

So I figured... Lets get out there and do a ton of missions for Michele. I'm currently on my second one. I want to know if being closer to Michele is going to have any effect on the game, or anything else within the game. Are there any traits from having history with a friend?

*Spoiler alert*



Will they be easier to kill during the Heart of Darkness ambush at the Landing Zone?



*Spoiler Finished*


So is it worth bothering to do these missions for Michele? Or is this a pointless feature in the game - that I'd only be wasting my time on...

They literally benefit you in no way. As far as I can tell that increase in rep is entirely irrelevant. If you like a certain buddy you can bump up their history to try to get them to become your best or second best.

Also, that achievement your talking about is referring to the 12 subversions, not these bar missions. So there isn't even an achievement attached to them.

well I heard that doing the buddy missions will upgrade your safehouse. As in adding an ammo crate, syrynges, an explosives crate, etc... to all safehouses, I've been doing the buddy missions, and other missions and I did get thes upgrades, but I can't remember if it was because of the buddy missions.

Though you should see after doing 2 missions some sort of upgrade if I'm right.

quote:

Originally posted by Jorge-Fonseca:
well I heard that doing the buddy missions will upgrade your safehouse. As in adding an ammo crate, syrynges, an explosives crate, etc... to all safehouses, I've been doing the buddy missions, and other missions and I did get thes upgrades, but I can't remember if it was because of the buddy missions.

Though you should see after doing 2 missions some sort of upgrade if I'm right.

That's from the subverted missions.

The actual buddy missions(the ones from Mike's Bar) give you increased reputation(which means nothing really) as this feature wasn't really fleshed out in time for the release, i'm assuming.

The safehouse upgrades(jeep, syrettes, ammo) all come when you do the main faction missions, but take the phone call from your best buddy, and do the mission his/her way.

oops my bad, Well I was close somwhat!

Anyway I guess the trophy is the only incentive then... And that some of them are somewhat fun. ( I like the assasination missions or the ones that are like killing a convoy. I can't get enough of them so buddy missions sometimes offer even more, always a different way to dispatch them, my favorite a car bomb where the enemy drives by and BOOM, then finish them of with a rocket )

I do understand the difference.

The Buddy Side Quest is the alternative (blue square) objective to handle a mission. You can either go and do the mission, or meet your buddy at a Safehouse.

And they'll give you an easier way to complete the mission, although it will take alot longer, as you often have to do their mission, which will then follow with you completing the original mission, and then you have to go and fight off a horde of enemies with your buddy, which often results in you saving your buddy.

Example:

There's a mission where you need to assassinate the Police Chief, who's a moving target inside a vehicle.

Your friend offers you an alternative mission, where you threaten the Police Chiefs brother for some co-ordinates, and then you can kill the brother.

Once that is done, the Police Chief is a stable target, and then you'll actually finally be asked to kill him, as you were originally told to.

After that, you won't be finished, as your friend will have caused an uproar, and be in the heat of a firefight, which you have to assist them in, and often save them from death.


So the Buddy side quests are somewhat easier, but they take longer, and also they increase your reputation, your history with your buddy, and upgrades your safehouse.


But obviously I did mention the Buddy Missions at Mike's Bar. That was what I was referring to. Those missions offer no money, and no progress through the story.

It's only going to increase your history with friends, and I wanted to know whether this history had any traits.


Obviously Far Cry 2 has some pretty nice features like the reputation, and the Buddy history, but sadly they never expanded on these features, and left them very bland.

It's a pure shame really. Having these features effect gameplay would've been ideal.

Well I got my reputation to go up to 2 in act 1 then it went down when I went into act 2, but the only noticeable thing is the dialogue that I hear when fighting enemies and when pointing guns in cease fire zone.

quote:

Originally posted by Jorge-Fonseca:
Well I got my reputation to go up to 2 in act 1 then it went down when I went into act 2, but the only noticeable thing is the dialogue that I hear when fighting enemies and when pointing guns in cease fire zone.

That's what I noticed. With reputation comes more fear and hilarious comments in the cease fire zone.

***** Spoiler *****

Does the Rep not reset due to the fact your buddies get killed at the end of act 1? when they storm mikes bar?

And your left for dead? and have to build up your reputation with the act 2 set of buddies?

****** End Of Spoiler *****

quote:

Originally posted by DIABLOair:
***** Spoiler *****

Does the Rep not reset due to the fact your buddies get killed at the end of act 1? when they storm mikes bar?

And your left for dead? and have to build up your reputation with the act 2 set of buddies?

****** End Of Spoiler *****

I think you're right actually. I'm not sure about reputation actually.

***Start of Spoiler***

Because you've killed the Faction leader of one of the Factions. This is a major thing. Now the Faction which still has a leader betrays you. Because you're becoming to powerful. You're dangerous. Too dangerous to handle.

So they ambush you, and although you're ordered to be killed, and you're expected to be dead, you are actually still alive.

After recupperating, you go back and kill the other Faction leader of the North Territory, which would surely make your reputation go through the roof. You just took out the main stronghold of the Northern Territory!

Now you're back at work in the South, and you're still meant to be dead. Surely the reputation is still high.


***End Spoiler***

I have what I'm sure is a completly stupid question having to do with the side missions so not trying to hijack your thread, but really no point in making a thread for this question sooo....


how do you tell the difference between the main storyline missions and the side quest missions? I think the main story missions are the ones you do for APR and UFFL or whatever the letters are. LOL But I'm not 100% sure. Are the missions you get from the radio antenna main or side missions? Thanks..

Main missions: APR and UFLL missions, and a few other things that are story related (ie. escaping from town at the start)
Buddy missions: This what the stats screen lists the Subverted missions as.
Side missions: Weapon convoy, Cell tower, and side missions accepted from buddies at Mike's Bar.
Bonus missions: These aren't counted any where in the stats and are the predecessor tape (white objective) missions.

Azanode summed it up for ya.

I've come to the solumn conclusion that the Buddy Side Quests were a waste of time to try and keep you busy in the game.

But everybodys too impatient and run-and-gunning it up to be bothered to do those missions.

It's all about the Main Faction missions...


At least we have the option though.

Option to do nothing...

You know I've often wondered if I went thru the game with my buddies all at 100% rep if there is like an alternate ending or something, you know kinda like in oddworld depending on your performance determined the end game sequence, but I don't think FC2 has any alternate endings unfortunately!

The one thing I've noticed when doing the buddy quests or subverted missions (or anything that increases your reputation) is that your safe house gets upgraded and the mercs appear to be more hesitant to take you on - for instance, sometimes they may hide rather than attack you.

By doing all the "reputation" missions, you achieve reputation level 5 at 88% in the game, and you will have grenade launching assault trucks at all of your safe houses.