The Far Cry 4 development team has just released part two of their Developer Diary on Thursday, July 31. For reference purposes, Ubisoft Montreal sent a small team to Nepal for a fact-finding mission in the Himalayas. The expedition was led by VICE magazine, which has a reputation for publishing gritty documentaries on YouTube.
"For the past six months we've been looking at reference like videos [and] images. What you see on those images is just static," Ubisoft Production Manager Philippe Fournier explained in the video. "So it doesn't show the action. It doesn't show what's happening behind the scenes."
Back in June during E3 2014, it was revealed that the fourth-installment in the Far Cry franchise will take place in the mountainous Himalayas. This marks a radical departure from the lush tropical jungle experience by players in Far Cry 3.
Although Far Cry 4 takes place in the fictional country of Kyrat, developers based their inspiration on Nepal and Bhutan. On the trip, the team encountered unique sights ranging from animal sacrifices to ancient temples. They also gathered visual information that will later be incorporated into the video game itself.
"It's kind of cool to just get that level of detail, and a lot of this is just bizarre juxtaposition, which I think is going to be cool trying bring some of that into the game," Fournier added.
There were also many dangers along the way. While taking the bus, the group came upon a section of road that had been destroyed by an avalanche. Afterwards, they had to continue their journey on a narrow footpath along a steep ravine.
"Whether it's in Kathmandu, or whether it's up in the mountains, there's always something you need to look out for," Fournier explained. "That kind of comes into that danger factor [in the game] -- where you're never sure what you're going to see, what you're going to encounter."
Far Cry 4 is coming to stores on Nov. 18 for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and the PC. The game is currently available for pre-order on the Ubisoft website.
Far Cry 4 Vice Developer Diary Part 2
Far Cry 4 Vice Developer Diary - Part 1
