History YMMV / JustCause3

** Early in the game, Dimah trolls Rico a little bit by activating his grapple on his arm without warning, sending him flying away towards a wall. [[spoiler:Near the end of the game, when she decides to sacrifice her life to ensure all knowledge of Bavarium is destroyed, she pulls the same trick to forcibly grapple Rico onto a nearby missile, ensuring he can't stop her or save her life]].

* TearJerker: About the only thing played straight without humor is [[spoiler: Dimah performing a HeroicSacrifice to ensure all information about Bavarium is destroyed after Rico begs her not to do it. What makes it a little more painful are the hints throughout the story that Dimah feels guilty about all the death her research caused, and her HeroicSacrifice might be a result of that guilt.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Rico's past is not well-explored, nor is the past of Medici, and a lot of opportunities to explore its future - through characters like Mario or Rosa Manuella, are left similarly unexpanded.

** The Online Leaderboards for non-PC users (who can just block the game using a simple rule in the windows firewall). As soon as the game loses connection, the game pauses and asks you whether you want to try and reconnect or if you want to play offline. Can't connect online anymore for whatever reason? You're forced to repeat the choice until you get back to the servers. Want to play offline? Yeah, that's a good fix... until you open up your Commlink (which you ''will'' do to find missions, side missions and collectibles) and then the game tries and reconnects ''without asking''! ''[[TheThingThatWouldNotLeave And there's no option to turn it off!]]'' (Save disconnecting your console from the Internet entirely.) Additionally, forcing the game to have an online option forces the entire game to be connected to the internet at all times; forced internet connection plus many large explosions and combat scenarios happening all the time equals an ''atrociously'' low frame rate.

** All the side challenges. They feel like a way to pad out the game and justify the always online leaderboards, but they can get unreasonably difficult to beat - in fact, a good portion of them are genuinely impossible to get 5 gears on unless you spent some time upgrading with some mods and/or found a better tool than the default one it starts you with (which also doubles as GuideDangIt since in most other games activities would be unavailable until you reached a level where you can beat it). It's extra silly when you realise to get those gear mods you have to... play those challenges. Basically, the game expects you to play through a bunch of the challenges once to get a bunch of gears to unlock upgrades so you can replay all of those challenges to get the full 5 gears. These are not fun enough to justify playing through them at least twice. The worst part, though, is that many fun and useful mechanics are locked behind these gears (such as the ability to close the wingsuit as mentioned above, as well as things like vehicle nitrous and booster explosives), so you're semi-forced to do the challenges unless you really don't care about any of them. As [[Creator/TheCynicalBrit TotalBiscuit]] put it, "the best part of the game is when you're doing really cool, crazy, chaotic things, but the game is also actively encouraging you not to do it!"

** The Online Leaderboards for non-PC users (who can just block the game using a simple rule in the windows firewall). As soon as the game loses connection, the game pauses and asks you whether you want to try and reconnect or if you want to play offline. Can't connect online anymore for whatever reason? You're forced to repeat the choice until you get back to the servers. Want to play offline? Yeah, that's a good fix... until you open up your Commlink (which you ''will'' do to find missions, side missions and collectibles) and then the game tries and reconnects ''without asking''! ''[[TheThingThatWouldNotLeave And there's no option to turn it off!]]'' (Save disconnecting your console from the Internet entirely.)

** The M488, [[EleventhHourSuperpower unlocked after the penultimate story mission,]] is a Bavarium-infused rocket launcher that is basically a portable version of the warheads at Falco Maxime. The explosion it creates is ludicrously powerful, capable of obliterating pretty much anything in a single shot—an entire outpost can be razed to the ground with no more than one or two shots. Combine this with the Gear Mod that lets you carry twice as many rockets with the fact it's the only FOW in the game that can be reloaded off cabinets and enemies, and you're essentially a god among men while wielding it.

** [[DeathfromAbove The Dionysus PLDS-H]] in the base game is a powerful airstrike weapon that is serviceable in the base game. It's extremely slow firing and only carries about half the ammo of any other special weapon (with the same issue as the Thunderbird in that reloading can only be called in via Rebel Drop), it still has a role to serve. That is until the Bavarium Sea Heist introduced the eDen Spark, which does the same type of attack with infinite ammo, a faster firing rate, and far more entertainment value, instantly relegating the Dionysius to a novelty.

** Just about the only thing that takes away from the fun of the jetpack is that anti-air missiles now target Rico if he's using it. While one on its own isn't too tough to deal with, as soon as there is more than one, you can say goodbye to any semblance of strategy while you're having to dodge a brand new missile every single second or risk getting one-shotted right out of the sky. The only real options are to either get out of their range or switch away from the wingsuit.

** The M488, [[EleventhHourSuperpower unlocked after the penultimate story mission,]] is a Bavarium-infused rocket launcher that is basically a portable version of the warheads at Falco Maxime. The explosion it creates is ludicrously powerful, capable of obliterating pretty much anything in a single shot—an entire outpost can be razed to the ground with no more than one or two shots. Combine this with the Gear Mod that lets you carry twice as many rockets, and you're essentially a god among men while wielding it.

* GoddamnBats: Shotgunners. On their own they aren't a huge issue, but that shotgun of theirs will stagger Rico with every hit, and unlike most enemies, they subvert ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy. It also doesn't help that they almost always come with Commandos or Machine-gunners who can unload on Rico while he's helpless, which makes Shotgunners a top priority whenever they're spotted.
** While snipers can also stagger Rico, they have lasers to mark their presence and can be evaded with some skill. You only know there's a Shotgunner around when they fire, and that usually means they hit you.
** And just to add insult to injury, rebellion troops who spawn to fight in Police Stations all come with shotguns, and FriendlyFireproof is ''not'' enforced with them. Nor will they think twice about firing at an enemy through Rico's head. Have fun!

* ScrappyWeapon: Two of the game's three shotguns are not worth really using outside of very particular circumstances due to their ''extremely'' low ammo cap of 24 spare rounds. Shotgun ammo is also noticeably uncommon (especially compared to assault rifle/machine gun ammo, which is practically everywhere), and pickups usually only give a half-dozen shots at most. Add onto that the fact that shotguns are less effective against anything tougher than standard enemies, making an AR or MG a far superior option.
** The only possible exception might be the Zabijak SawedOffShotgun, which can be dual wielded to free up a spot for a rifle, and is surprisingly powerful, as well as being able to reliably [[OneHitPolykill multi-kill shots.]]

* DemonicSpiders: While all drones [[note]]Introduced in the Sky Fortress and Mech Land Assault expansions[[/note]] can be quite a headache to deal with, the [[https://justcause.fandom.com/wiki/Suppression_drone Suppression Drones]] stand out as particularly nightmarish. For starters, Suppression Drones are almost as big as tanks and just as tough. Second, they use Bavarium-infused miniguns that inflict big damage and some models even fire ''anti-air missiles'' that can track you while wing-suiting. And those Bavarium-infused missiles pack a punch, so you better be good with the barrel roll technique or they'll make ''very'' short work of you. All this makes them quite a challenge when they do show up, especially if you're not equipped with a rocket launcher or grenade launcher weapon. Also worth noting that they make strange, robotic/animal sounds that can be quite unsettling to hear and give them a very eerie presence.
* DisappointingLastLevel: The final region of Insula Striate is huge compared to Fonte and Dracon, and also incredible empty. While there are plenty of towns along the south coast, the entire northern half of the island is just a few scattered military bases (and plenty of ruined towns due to something called [[NoodleIncident "The burning of the North"]]) and liberating these parts can be a serious chore if just for the sheer amount of distance you have to traverse between settlements.

** The other unique item from the Bavarian Sea Heist, the Loochador, is the undisputed queen of the sea. It's a LightningBruiser in every regard, having top-of-the-line armour, a ludicrously high top speed that blows most other boats out the water even before its nearly bottomless tank of nitrous is factored in, and a ridiculously lethal set of weapons, packing a combination of miniguns and a heat-seeking, rapidly firing rocket launcher, which, unlike most boats in the game, can be fired even while Rico is behind the wheel of the boat itself. Best of all, unlike most DLC items, it can be brought into time trials due to not falling into a unique vehicle classification, making most Sea Races much easier than intended.

* HarsherInHindsight: In Just Cause 2 part of the story was dedicated to the idea (based on the Agency's misinformed intel that Sheldon had gone rogue) that Tom Sheldon and Rico would have a massive battle. Ultimately nothing comes of it, and what little tension there is between Rico and Sheldon is played for laughs (Rico makes "don't make me kill you" comments when Sheldon isn't being useful). However, in this game the relationship between Rico and Sheldon is far more heavily strained, with Sheldon and Rico's interests not always aligning. At one point Rico even tells Sheldon outright that if Sheldon ever double crosses him, then the two of them are done. The confrontation hinted at in Just Cause 2 probably isn't as unlikely as previously thought.

** ''Sky Fortress'' {{DLC}}: [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Eden Callaghan]] is the CEO of the [[MegaCorp eDEN Corporation]] who cares only for profits regardless of casualties. In truth a [[AIIsACrapshoot malignant AI]] given sapience by Bavarium, Eden immediately froze everyone in the corporation to death to protect herself upon gaining intelligence. Requiring Bavarium to sustain her own sapience, Eden launches drone attacks against multiple villages in Medici, burning them to the ground and causing casualties to mine the mineral. Constantly thwarted by Rico, Eden eventually decides to use the Fragmentation Device on Medici, knowing full well that the device will rip the entire country apart and kill everyone in it purely to extend her own intelligence. Though she's reduced once more to an automated assistant once disconnected from her Bavarium supply, Eden comes close to destroying Medici and killing thousands of innocents, all out of an arrogant belief that her intelligence surpassed humanity's.

* CompleteMonster: [[TheGeneralissimo General Sebastiano Di Ravello]] is the brutal dictator of Medici, as well as a sociopathic {{pyromaniac}}. Having usurped Medici's democratic politician Rosa Maunuela, in addition to starting a civil war, in which he had President Dante ripped limb from limb, Di Ravello also uses forced labor to mine the magnetic and explosive element of bavarium, to make super weapons for world domination; it is implied he wishes to do this to satisfy his pyromaniac needs. It is also revealed he was behind the coup that killed [[PlayerCharacter Rico Rodriguez]]'s parents, as part of a deal he made with the Agency. [[EstablishingCharacterMoment When introduced]], he orders one of his men to kill themselves for failing to stop the rebels, before ordering his army to raze the liberated town of Costa Del Porto. He later has Dimah tortured with a blowtorch for not mining Bavarium fast enough. When he has a a bavarium missile built, he decides to test it by launching it on another town. Exasperated by Rico's interfering with his plans, he beats one of his men to death and orders another attack and calls for the assassination of Manuela. Even when defeated, he has no remorse for his actions, only lamenting the end of his empire before deciding it's only fitting his legacy "ends in flames".

* DemonicSpiders: While all drones [[note]]Introduced in the Sky Fortress and Mech Land Assault expansions[[/note]] can be quite a headache to deal with, the [[https://justcause.fandom.com/wiki/Suppression_drone Suppression Drones]] stand out as particularly nightmarish. For starters, Suppression Drones are almost as big as tanks and just as tough. Second, they use Bavarium-infused miniguns that inflict big damage and some models even fire ''anti-air missiles'' that can track you while wing-suiting. And those Bavarium-infused missiles pack a punch, so you better be good with the barrel roll technique or they'll make ''very'' short work of you. All this makes them quite a challenge when they do show up, especially if you're not equipped with a rocket launcher or grenade launcher weapon. Also worth noting that they make strange, robotic/animal sounds that can be [[HellIsThatNoise quite unsettling to hear]] and give them a very eerie presence.