Ok all I had a chance to sit down with this game last night for about 3-4hrs and here is what I think of it initially. I don't want to make this too long so you guys will be more inclined to read it.

Thankfully, the game intro is short and pretty much straight to the point. I would say it was shorter than Skyrim's intro. It pretty much just turned me loose on the island right from the get go and I really have not felt any restrictions on where I can go as of yet. There seems to be a ton of stuff to do.

Hunting is fun and a pain in the a$$ all at the same time. I kinda knew about this going in though. On one hand I want to hunt but on the other hand to remove some restrictions the game puts on you, there is no choice. You need to make backpacks, wallets, holsters, etc. to improve what you can carry. All these things require different kinds of hides from animals.

Some are easy to get and some are a pain. For example, the deer were a pain because they run at the slightest sound or movement. Shooting them down with an assault rifle was harder than it sounds which also attracts nearby pirates that seem to never stop coming. What do I do? I grab the nearest car or truck and proceed to plow through a field of deer and pirates. Even that was not easy but it got me laughing. It was so satisfying once I peeled Bambi and pals off the hood of my car lol.

The graphics look great and are up to standards even on the 360. The sound effects to me are a bit lacking. I blame it on those awesome Tritton headphones I always wear. The guns and things don't sound as epic but are still good. The character skill trees and crafting seem cool.

The good thing about this game so far is there was limited hand holding and free open roam from square one similar to Skyrim. The world seems lively with animals, plants, pirates, citizens, outposts, chests to loot, things to do and explore. It's not the perfect game but very enjoyable so far. I will never understand why co-op mode is completely separate. Having friends in the open world would be awesome.

I can agree with most of that, but I did feel like the intro was a bit long. Not so much long as the forced tutorial. This comes from having to restart my game with no option to skip the tutorials. I also don't care for the constant bombardment of pop ups and notifications.

I actually used a trainer on the PC last night. Used super speed and damage to get all the non quest related skins. Still took about two or three hours. However, that now frees me up to enjoy the rest of the game.

First of all, I always read your first impressions. Short or long! Second, we took off the profanity filters. Curse to your heart's content. lol

I think Dat may differ in one opinion. He hates the popup hints. He actually said this last night, and I was rolling -- "This game has more popups than a porn site!". Like the first mission where you need to get 3 types of plants and 2 pig hides. That big ass graphic won't go away until you've collected them all. This is a game where you need full peripheral vision, since Tigers can ambush the fuck out of you! lol

I enjoy watching the game since it's so beautiful. There are some things I don't like, though. This game didn't need to go RPG'ish. You shouldn't need to unlock a cook grenade skill. You just hold it longer after pulling the pin! haha

Enjoyed the first look, man. Please keep them coming.

I agree with that Dat that the intro is a bit forced. I guess I felt better about this intro than say AC3 which was brutally long. The constant notifications drives me crazy too. A couple would of been fine since we can just access the pause menu for all the codex info we want.

Yeah that hunting is sort of a bottleneck to being able to just enjoy the rest of the game. At least I finished up holsters so I can carry 4 weapons. I will get the rest as I go.

First of all, I always read your first impressions. Short or long! Second, we took off the profanity filters. Curse to your heart's content. lol

I think Dat may differ in one opinion. He hates the popup hints. He actually said this last night, and I was rolling -- "This game has more popups than a porn site!". Like the first mission where you need to get 3 types of plants and 2 pig hides. That big ass graphic won't go away until you've collected them all. This is a game where you need full peripheral vision, since Tigers can ambush the fuck out of you! lol

I enjoy watching the game since it's so beautiful. There are some things I don't like, though. This game didn't need to go RPG'ish. You shouldn't need to unlock a cook grenade skill. You just hold it longer after pulling the pin! haha

Enjoyed the first look, man. Please keep them coming.

Hell yeah! I will remember those tips in the future lol.

The game is good looking for sure. The popups are a bit of a pain. Every now and then it keeps popping up what my current mission is. I am thinking "OK OK I will get to it!" lol

At the very least, Ubi could have had an option in settings for people who don't need them (popup reminders). That was very shortsighted in my opinion.

At the very least, Ubi could have had an option in settings for people who don't need them (popup reminders). That was very shortsighted in my opinion.

It is funny something so simple and devs did not even think about it. It is sloppy and shortsighted cause they are annoying.

I should of mentioned those popups in my impressions. I guess in a way I am just used to popups LOL!!

On-screen prompts that either fade to black or snap to an area of the hud that's not in your way are fine with me. Popups where you lose control of your character until you press a button are annoying.

I'm not hating on the game. Just wish Ubi would give us full control of the game. Tooltip/tutorial options, Fading prompts instead of focus stealing popups and skippable cutscenes. All games this generation should have skippable cutscenes. In fact, it should be a law! lol

Also, if you have the pre-order Monkey mission (forgot the name), leave that extra content alone until it's patched. It's seriously broken. Just a heads up.

On-screen prompts that either fade to black or snap to an area of the hud that's not in your way are fine with me. Popups where you lose control of your character until you press a button are annoying.

I'm not hating on the game. Just wish Ubi would give us full control of the game. Tooltip/tutorial options, Fading prompts instead of focus stealing popups and skippable cutscenes. All games this generation should have skippable cutscenes. In fact, it should be a law! lol

Also, if you have the pre-order Monkey mission (forgot the name), leave that extra content alone until it's patched. It's seriously broken. Just a heads up.

Totally agree. Unskippable cut-scenes piss me off. It all goes back to good user/interaction design.

Did not get the monkey mission but thanks for the heads up.

Just got the game...boy do i suck.

I just beat the game and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

 

The ending was a bit: Are you an asshole?

 

Option 1: No

Option 2: Yes

 

That kind of sucked but overall I think the game was pretty damn good and really entertaining. 

Little late to this convo, but just recently started playing this (thanks gamercide team!). I'm really having a blast playing it! Shane started it first, and I was watching him and thought it looked fun. So I took it over LOL. Now he plays it when I'm not on the xbox. My fave weapon is the sniper rifle. I snipe whenever I can! And I am good at it lol (pats self on back ;p).