To date, the team at Ubisoft Montreal tasked with Far Cry 4 have been surprisingly candid about the strengths and weaknesses of previous games. The claim has been made that Far Cry 4’s story will turn Far Cry 3’s on its head, positioning the player as a native returning to a region in upheaval, instead of an outsider leading a people to freedom.
When we got the recent opportunity to discuss that topic with narrative director Mark Thompson, he went a step even farther, saying that the idea of a “white savior” in Far Cry 3 was something the studio should, and would address.
There’s no denying that Pagan Min - a Hong Kong national who has overtaken the country of Kyrat by force - is a different breed of insane from previous villains. But Thompson offered a new insight, explaining that Pagan Min’s bloody quest for power doesn’t just make him dangerous - in the past, it could’ve made him a Far Cry protagonist:
Besides keeping a consistent definition of power or ‘conquering’ tied to the actual gameplay systems governing Kyrat, Thompson went on to explain that it’s not just the world of Far Cry 4 that Pagan Min could have conquered through those same means. In no uncertain terms, he follows the same path that many felt Far Cry 3’s protagonist took himself:
“And then he took over. He captured the outposts. He took the towers. He captured the landscape. The overall story of the game is about Ajay returning to Kyrat, his homeland, and there’s a tiny kind of rebellion simmering away in the corner. But the whole land has been taken from them by Pagan Min and his self-appointed ‘royal’ army. So the backstory is made up of the systems of the game world.”
Even if it’s just a playful wink, Thompson’s comments prove that the developers didn’t just hear the criticism that some players had of Far Cry 3’s hero; they may have thought those critics had a point. Luckily, even those players who took no issue with Jason’s methods can benefit, having a rock-solid understanding of how an outsider can bring a country to its knees. And the path to toppling him is simply completing the same tasks over again (it’s lonely at the top, as they say).
What do you think of this new perspective on Pagan Min? Does it seem like the kind of inside joke or self-aware step forward in storytelling that fans will appreciate? Sound off in the comments.
Far Cry 4 will be available for PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3 and PS4 on November 18, 2014.
Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrew_dyce.
