History YMMV / FarCry4

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In the ending [[spoiler:where the marxist Amita lives, she presides over the beginnings of a forced exodus of people from towns and villages in Kyrat]] in order to enslave and use them as [[spoiler:forced labor, while taking children to have them indoctrinated into becoming child soldiers]] - similar to the actions of Pol Pot and the first weeks in his Marxist dictatorship of Cambodia. In the case of [[spoiler:Amita however, it's heroin cultivation and industrial sweat-shops rather than]] agricultural collectivization.

* {{Fanon}}: A great deal of fans considered the shortcut ending where you [[spoiler:waited like a normal person for 13 minutes, then Pagan returned and took you to your sister's altar to place your mother's ashes]] the ''true'' ending. This is because of a combination of SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments in this ending and the ridiculous amount of TooBleakStoppedCaring in other endings.
* FandomSpecificPlot: Considering the secret ending of [[spoiler: Ajay staying inside Pagan Min's house and waited like he was asked to along with him putting his mother's ashes to rest]], it can be a potential plot to expand upon with Ajay siding with Pagan Min instead of the Golden Path.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: This game came out soon after ''Assassin's Creed Unity'', which was a massive ObviousBeta. This game and ''Assassin's Creed Rogue'' serve as unintentional versions of this for Ubisoft, with many saying the game is a beautiful, fun shooter.
** While ''Far Cry 3'' was largely seen as an improvement over the polarizing ''Far Cry 2'', many fans of that game were let down by some of the changes to the formula, such as a much more linear campaign, enemy outposts that stay liberated, and not being able to go to bed and advance time. ''Far Cry 4'' addressed all of these gripes, with the enemy often launching counter attacks to retake their outposts, the ability to sleep and advance time, and most of the story missions given by two bickering leaders who both offer their own way to do it, making for sort of a happy medium between the two games.
** As popular as Vaas was in ''Far Cry 3'', just about everyone was disappointed that he was ultimately just TheDragon and defeated halfway through, and felt that the story became less engaging without him. For ''Far Cry 4'', the new cover antagonist, Pagan Min, ''is'' the BigBad throughout the whole game.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** During one of the Golden Path choice missions between Amita and Sabal, Amita gives Ajay the task of taking over a drug factory, where unsurprisingly as he goes though, Ajay begins to inhale the drugs and begin hallucinating. It's difficult to pick who to blame in this case: Amita for not supplying Ajay with a gas mask or Ajay for not thinking to ask or bring one himself. Either way, after flooding an underground opiate facility with toxic fumes in order to drive out the occupants (it wasn't an accident either, it was all part of the plan) Ajay goes barging in without any protection whatsoever and predictably starts [[MushroomSamba tripping balls.]]
** Dr. Noore wrote a paper heavily criticizing Pagan Min, to which he responded by inviting her to Kyrat. Oh, and suggested she bring her family along too. How did she possibly expect that to turn out well?
** Ishwari's last request is worded in an incredibly vague way; if she'd simply said, "Take me to Lakshmana, [[spoiler:my dead daughter via Pagan Min, whose ashes should be at his palace]]", she could've short-circuited the entire conflict.

* IdiotPlot: [[spoiler:The entire plot, and all the pain in it, occur because neither Pagan Min nor Ajay's mom explain ''anything''.]]
** However, this ''can'' be averted if Ajay and the Player [[spoiler: choose to patiently wait a few minutes for Pagan Min to come back and explain everything]].

* UnfortunateImplications:
** The release of the cover of the game, with a blonde man standing against a deity and the Himalayan setting of the game brought [[http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05/21/far-cry-4-creative-director-addresses-box-art-controversy accusations of racism]] [[http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-05-19-far-cry-4-already-playing-with-fire and homophobia]] against the developers for indulging in Third World MightyWhitey power fantasy (although since Min is actually the BigBad, it's more likely they intended to convey the [[LoveToHate exact]] [[HateSink opposite]] -- he's also Hong Kong Chinese, something not initially clear to all viewers). Likewise, the outcry against the game for homophobia was due to the belief that Pagan Min was a DepravedHomosexual, based on the initial assumption that he was a CampGay due to his bright pink suit and larger-than-life AffablyEvil personality. Again, in actuality Min is the opposite, as a major part of his backstory involves his part in a bloody love triangle due to his love for Ajay's late mother, and it's implied that Ajay is his surrogate heir.
*** Whether or not it was put in after this, Pagan manages to call out those that assumed, telling Ajay via radio that he's actually into women, but there was only one person for him in the world.
** An understandable complaint is for the developers' decision to scrap [[http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-06-11-far-cry-4-to-also-skip-playable-female-character-due-to-workload playable female characters]] at the last minute because it was too much work, echoing a similar controversy over comments Ubisoft made for [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedUnity another game]] (although they have since clarified on that one). Controversy over the PortingDisaster of a third Ubisoft game, VideoGame/WatchDogs, which was technical issues-based, raised questions of whether the UnfortunateImplications have more to do with incompetence and poor resource management than actual sexism, especially since ''Far Cry 5'' was able to have a customizable protagonist of either gender (albeit at the cost of them being [[HeroicMime silent]], something not done in the series since ''2'', and {{featureless|Protagonist}} on top of it).

** Just about all of the wildlife. Honey badgers [[MemeticMutation don't give a shit]], demon fish will eat you, [[BearsAreBadNews bears hate you]], wolves and dholes will swarm you, eagles will swoop out of the sky to assault you, and rhinos will straight-up murder you. However, with the right perk, you can ride elephants into battle.

** Retaliation Strikes always occur at the worst possible times, mostly when you're just about to leave an outpost. Said outpost ''immediately'' gets attacked by a surgical strike. Ignoring this might end up bringing it back under enemy control, depriving you of a fast-travel spot.

** The [[StealthBasedMission second half of City of Pain.]] While Amita's version of City of Pain is easier (you just need to take pictures of , Sabal's version made first-time players infuriated to no end due to rescuing slaves actually being mandatory and the guards are much harder to dispatch without raising the alarm (which fails the mission). Not to mention [[CheckpointStarvation checkpoints are scarce.]] [[spoiler:The best hint is to realize that the ''only'' prisoners you can safely rescue without setting off the alarm are the ones you're required to save - you'll just have to ignore the rest.]]

* {{Fanon}}: A great deal of fans considered the shortcut ending where you [[spoiler:waited like a normal person for 13 minutes, then Pagan returned and took you to your sister's altar to place your mother's ashes]] the ''true'' ending. This is because of a combination of SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments in this ending and the ridiculous amount of DarknessInducedAudienceApathy in other endings.

** Pagan Min is a deliberately invoked version as he starts off as a AxCrazy PsychopathicManchild EvilOverlord BadBoss and ''that's only in the first scene.'' However, the next scene has him sit down for a NoMisterBondIExpectYouToDine scene where he puts on an AffablyEvil air. Then he tortures someone loudly. If you decide to leave, you'll see his brutal dictatorship over Kyrat and hear plenty of horror stories about him. [[spoiler: If you decide to stay, you find him to be an introspective man who has a desire to become a RetiredMonster and leave Kyrat to someone better than himself. You'll also hear his sympathetic backstory and learn the resistance is NotSoDifferent or in some cases even worse.]] Pagan Min is undoubtedly crazy but is he a NobleDemon, an extreme sociopath who just happens to love [[spoiler: Ajay's mother]], or traumatized by his [[spoiler: infant daughter's murder?]]

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Politics are far more complicated than you think, fighting against a dictatorship without an end goal (i.e kill or replace the dictator with the leader of the rebellion) can cause more damage than intended. [[spoiler: Because Pagan never directly explained the situation, Ajay operated under the belief that he was in danger and needed to overthrow Pagan for the Golden Path. When Pagan is dealt with, the Golden Path becomes the next dictatorship regime since they have their own ideas on how to run a country. If you join a revolution without thinking past the end goal, you may just make things worse by installing another dictatorship without realising.]]

** Is Amita a [[spoiler:DirtyCommunist Pol Pot in the making]], or is she a VisionaryVillain who realizes the modernization of Kyrat in the wake of a two-decade civil war isn't going to be easy? The use of [[spoiler:{{Child Soldier}}s]] is a MoralEventHorizon, but is that because she's just that sadistic, or is it because [[spoiler:with Sabal's death]] she needs every hand which can hold a gun to finish the war which is falling apart? Does she simply suffer MotiveDecay once she achieves her goal of finishing off Pagan Min only to realize there's no real way to voluntarily change Kyrat's people to her way of thinking? And [[spoiler:did she kill Bhadra?]]

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
** In the ending [[spoiler:where the marxist Amita lives, she presides over the beginnings of a forced exodus of people from towns and villages in Kyrat]] in order to enslave and use them as [[spoiler:forced labor, while taking children to have them indoctrinated into becoming child soldiers]] - similar to the actions of Pol Pot and the first weeks in his Marxist dictatorship of Cambodia. In the case of [[spoiler:Amita however, it's heroin cultivation and industrial sweat-shops rather than]] agricultural collectivization.

** The "Buzzsaw" signature MG-42 gun. In addition to the blistering rate of fire, it has near-maximum damage per shot, letting you massacre human or animals, with a huge 400-round belt, fast reload, high accuracy even when hip-firing, with a good optical scope and very weak recoil, this gun truly destroys the difficulty curve. It requires liberating all 17 bell towers on the map, which can be achieved as soon as the 2nd half the map unlocks. This will turn the rest of the game into a CurbStompBattle.

** The SA-50 is an anti-materiel Sniper Rifle that has a nice magazine, it's semi-automatic unlike the Z93 and the M-700 and a one-hit kill against all enemies, and Heavies if [[BoomHeadshot shot through the head]]. It can have a suppressor which lets you clear outposts without being caught.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Politics are far more complicated than you think, fighting against a dictatorship without an end goal (i.e kill or replace the dictator with the leader of the rebellion) can cause more damage than intended. [[spoiler: Because Pagan never directly explained the situation, Ajay operated under the belief that he was in danger and needed to overthrow Pagan for the Golden Path. When Pagan is dealt with, the Golden Path becomes the next dictatorship regime since they have their own ideas on how to run a country. If you join a revolution without thinking past the endgoal, you may just make things worse by installing another dictatorship without realising.]]

** The [[StealthBasedMission second half of City of Pain.]] While Amita's version of City of Pain is easier, Sabal's version on the other hand made first-time players infuriated to no end due to rescuing slaves actually being mandatory and the guards are much harder to dispatch without raising the alarm (which fails the mission). Not to mention [[CheckpointStarvation checkpoints are scarce.]] [[spoiler:The best hint is to realize that the ''only'' prisoners you can safely rescue without setting off the alarm are the marked ones - you'll just have to ignore any other ones you see if they're not marked.]]

** An understandable complaint is for the developers' decision to scrap [[http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-06-11-far-cry-4-to-also-skip-playable-female-character-due-to-workload playable female characters]] at the last minute because it was too much work, echoing a similar controversy over comments Ubisoft made for [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedUnity another game]] (although they have since clarified on that one). Controversy over the PortingDisaster of a third Ubisoft game, VideoGame/WatchDogs, which was technical issues-based, raised questions of whether the UnfortunateImplications have more to do with incompetence and poor resource management than actual sexism.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: As the plot progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that there is no best, or even just plain good, solution for Kyrat. The Golden Path's leaders are either pragmatic to a dangerous level or scarily traditionalist with all that implies, and Ajay himself may (at the player's discretion) be guided by a good heart, but he has no experience in politics or ruling a country. Any sense of grandeur or high conflict for the story is lost as it turns into a power struggle between two equally bad extremes. [[spoiler:Killing both of the Golden Path's leaders during the course of the game and getting handed Kyrat by Pagan Min is what could be seen as the best option, but we've no indication that Ajay isn't going down as dark a path as Pagan did, especially as he had to kill his way to the top to get here.]] There's no sense of tension or interesting conflict because no one is likeable, except Bhadra, maybe Ajay [[spoiler:and ironically Pagan Min once his past gets explained]], which removes any meaning from the endings.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: At the end of ''Valley of the Yetis'' it appears you [[spoiler:turn into a Yeti. Sadly instead of giving some kind of mission that revolves around this where you can plow through cult members and other yetis with super strength, the game just ends]].

* PolishedPort: While it never received an Xbox One X enhancement patch, on Series X and S, thee game was one of the first 5 to receive an FPS Boost, allowing for a perfectly smooth 60FPS on the consoles.

** PolishedPort: While it never received an Xbox One X enhancement patch, on Series X and S, thee game was one of the first 5 to receive an FPS Boost, allowing for a perfectly smooth 60FPS on the consoles.

** The Hunting Syringe makes the Camera redundant in many circumstances. It automatically tags every enemy and animal within a certain distance. It also disables one the [[KungFuProofMook Hunters]] main as they will stay tagged for the duration of the syringe's effects. It can last up to a minute and a half.

** Retaliation Strikes always occur at the worst possible times, mostly when you're just about to leave an outpost. Said outposts ''immediately'' gets attacked by a surgical strike. Ignoring this might end up bringing it back under enemy control, depriving you of a fast-travel spot.

* MemeticBadass: The Honey Badgers are portrayed in this game as worse than wolves, lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!)

** Noore herself had crossed it along time ago unwillingly by hosting the those gladiator games, by sending innocent people to their deaths and allowing herself to be [[BecomingTheMask gradually brainwashed by Pagan's influence to secretly love hosting these death matches]], all because [[spoiler:Pagan took Noore's family hostage to force her to do so]]. These actions are considered to be beyond redemption for Noore in the eyes of Golden Path leaders Amita and Sabal, who show NoSympathy at all why Noore did it and ordered her death sentence. Even Noore thinks she's beyond saving and not worth it to pull a KarmaHoudini [[spoiler:after learning her family is dead and she had been tricked to run the games ForTheEvulz and for nothing all along, and decides to kill herself rather than allowing herself to undeservingly (at least in her, Amita's and Sabal's eyes) live]].

*** [[spoiler:Amita runs the place by taking over Pagan's drug empire as her own, and enforces slave labor on people, with a newfound communist leadership. What's the first thing we see her doing? ''Ordering children to be recruited into the Golden Path'' to combat the last of Pagan's soldiers. And where's Bhadra? Apparently she was "''sent away''", which may or may not be a euphemism]].
*** [[spoiler:Sabal becomes the fanatical leader who enforces old time laws on the people of Kyrat, kills those who didn't follow their old religious beliefs (which during Pagan's reign was the majority of Kyrat) and executes half of the Golden Path for siding with Amita. He also announces Bhadra to be the Tarun Matara, which may or may not be a good thing]].
** Willis [[spoiler: completely goes from likable character to a terrible person by leaving Ajay trapped in the Himalayas to be captured by Yuma’s men.]]

** The finnish subtitles translate the name "The Goat" as "Pukki"[[note]]A synonym for "Vuohi", a more direct translation of the word goat[[/note]] While perfectly fine by itself, the finnish name for Santa Claus - "Joulupukki" - is often shorted to "Pukki", so one can't help but imagine a mass-murdering Santa running around Kyrat.

** If anything, Agent Willis Huntley is the ''real'' Scrappy of ''Far Cry 4''. He was pretty jingoistic in ''Far Cry 3'', but he balanced it out by being a JerkWithAHeartOfGold to Jason and actually being helpful to Jason in battling Hoyt during however long they worked together. Here, however, he's brazenly rude and openly racist towards Ajay, [[spoiler:manipulates him into killing CIA agents posted in Kyrat, and then shoves him out of the plane to be captured by the Royal Army.]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Oh, and he gives Ajay a silly pun for a code word, too- "Reaganomics".]]

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Politics are far more complicated than you think, fighting against a dictatorship without an end goal (i.e kill or replace the dictator with the leader of the rebellion) can cause more damage than intended. [[spoiler: Because Pagan never directly explained the situation, Ajay operated under the belief that he was in danger and needed to overthrow Pagan for the Golden Path. When Pagan is dealt with, the Golden Path becomes the next dictatorship regime since they have their own ideas on how to run a country. If you join a revolution without thinking past the endgoal, you may just may just make things worse by installing another dictatorship without realising.]]

* DemonicSpiders: Royal Army Hunters, hands down. They can't be permanently tagged with the camera or by aiming at them like every other enemy. They can spot Ajay through brush cover, making stealth attacks exponentially more difficult. They don't bring up a detection meter when they spot the player. They move silently, making them even harder to spot even at close range and an even nastier surprise thanks to the aforementioned missing detection meter. They can charm animals into not attacking the soldiers and attacking Ajay instead, thus turning one of the most useful methods of distraction for raiding outposts against the player. They only use bows instead of firearms, but they're very accurate (and silent) with them and tend to inflict a crap-ton of damage at very long distances while their dozen or so comrades are busy throwing a wall of lead at Ajay without inflicting more than ScratchDamage. [[GlassCannon They can't take much punishment in return]], wearing next to no armor, but they can still withstand a dismaying amount of bullets before finally biting the dirt. Even just one of those suckers can quickly turn into the biggest threat in any given encounter, and they rarely come alone. You only spotted one Hunter while scoping out that enemy camp? [[ParanoiaFuel Trust me, his buddies are out there, closing in on you.]]
* DesignatedVillain:
** Pagan Min. We see him lethally stab an underling in his introduction and we are told repeatedly that Pagan Min is a corrupt King doing horrible things to the people of Kyrat by the Golden Path. However, that underling ''shot'' a bus he was supposed to ''stop'' and the people who are stating he does this are, regardless of their own motives, essentially terrorists. Any actions Pagan has done has been against these terrorists or anyone that has been helping said terrorists. The Golden Path is also founded on religious extremes and not much better, or in some cases, worse than Pagan. Not to mention Kyrat was not doing so well even before he arrived as the country was completely broke and, despite having plenty of gold, chose to keep it in temples rather than use it to stimulate their economy. This along with Pagan's drug empire practically being the only economy in Kyrat, if Amita is to be believed (stating their mines are stripped and their country would be broke without the fields). This all added to the fact that Pagan is [[AffablyEvil nothing but completely nice to the player]] and was even going to make peace with the Golden Path, [[spoiler:right before the leader murdered his infant daughter]]. Makes one easily [[RootingForTheEmpire root for the Empire]].
** What he does to Noore, however, is nothing but KickTheDog. [[spoiler:He kidnaps her family, has them killed, but never tells her about it because he makes her go to work for him under the guise that once he feels she has done enough for him, he'll give them back. Said work involves the ironic hell of making a doctor run a Blood Sport arena. All this for labeling him one of the worst human rights violators in the world.]]
** He also straight out admits to doing things like kidnapping celebrity chefs and executing them if his guests don't like their food, or arbitrarily making candles illegal and declaring their usage to be treason punishable by death. While there's much more to his story than what the Golden Path will tell you, it's pretty undeniable he's a straight-up villain by the time the game takes place. Plus all those people he forced into prostitution, or all those people he forced to work in the mines until they died, none of whom have any apparent connection to the Golden Path, or perhaps they might have. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Or he's just messing with Ajay...]]

** If anything, Agent Willis Huntley is the ''real'' Scrappy of ''Far Cry 4''. He was pretty jingoistic in ''Far Cry 3'', but he balanced it out by being a JerkWithAHeartOfGold to Jason and actually being helpful to Jason in battling Hoyt during however long they worked together. Here, however, he's brazenly rude and openly racist towards Ajay, [[spoiler:manipulates him into killing CIA agents posted in Kyrat, and then shoves him out of the plane to be captured by the Royal Army.]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Oh, and he doesn't do anything to fight Pagan Min either.]]

** Also, the plot in general. We have a EvilOverlord dictator who tries to bring the country under his control through wanton violence and [[spoiler: isn't quite the Complete Monster he's made out to be by his enemies]], fighting against a divided LaResistance which at the beginning looked the part but is later revealed to have [[spoiler: devolved from being well-intentioned extremists]] to just being extremists and [[spoiler: turn out to be no better than the tyrant they fight against]]. Seems Ubisoft took inspiration from how the early stages of the Syrian civil war progressed when writing the game.