The first one is too difficult and frustrating. Far cry 2 may have problems but it's better than the first game.

Far Cry 2 is a terrible, terrible game. Avoid it like malaria. The gameworld is lifeless and boring. The AI is comically stupid (I love how when anyone in a vehicle spots you they immediately mash down on the accelerator and slam headlong into the nearest object). Besides the actual shooty bits, the gameplay is complete garbage (Hack radio towers to get instruction to kill a random person for money? Track down beeping briefcases hiding among bluffs and shrubbery that are inexplicably full of diamonds? Who thought this crap was a good idea?). The script and voiceovers are painfully bad. The malaria bit is notoriously awful, but little gets said about how equally awful the weapon degradation system is.

Really, I can't say enough bad things about the game. It really puzzles me as to why people enjoy it. It was such a horrible waste of a wonderful engine. If it had been moddable maybe it could have been fixed into something worth playing, but as it stands I wouldn't recommend it even for free.

The original Far Cry, however, is wonderful. The environments are beautiful and varied, the weapons and gunplay are great, the vehicles are fun, the enemies are actually reasonably intelligent and—at times—challenging, and the story and voice acting is actually pretty decent. Play it!

Thanks for all the help so far, still can't decide lol, though 1 looks amazing and is foresty and stuff, I thought 2 had the whole fire spreading through the enviorment and destrucable enviorments... I think that's cool but is it worth the downsides of 2?

Don't believe the naysayers for either game. The fact that both games have many people who quite enjoyed either one or both of the games (I enjoyed both, 2 maybe even moreso), proves that you can enjoy them too. Or not. Up to you to find it out yourself. :)

Sometimes I feel that if someone has decided to hate some game, he will complain about anything in the game: voice acting, enemy AI, the wild animals in the game not acting exactly like their real life counterparts, the music, the font used in the game... it is all crap, game-breakingly crap, because the game is crap. Crap! :)

I think I'm going to have a FC 1 row later tonight thanks to this thread. I've just been getting put through the ringer on a RTS binge and some senseless jungle blasting sounds just about right for this evening. :D I mean sure, I could read a book or go outside but what fun is that?

Far Cry 1 and 2 are flawed and completely different kind of games but I prefer 2 over 1.

My review of Far Cry 1 sums up my feelings of this games (You can read the whole thread if you want)

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/my_reaction_to_far_cry_1/post1

Far Cry 2 too me is less frustrating, for one its necessary to buy your own gun instead of picking it up from enemies if you want them to last longer and especially a gun with high reliability like the AK-47 which last a pretty long time. And always, always do the missions that rewards more pills even if you have plenty already. Also get the Dylan's Realism Mod and Graphical enhancement suit mod.

P.S. though this is off-topic if you want the kind of game that Far Cry 1 is then I highly recommend Crysis 1+Warhead which is a better Far Cry 1, that is if your PC can handle it.

I made my choice and it was Far Cry 1. Might as well start there, it's allot more colorful compared tot he second one.

I didn't really like 1 but I loved 2, haven't played 3.

HA!

[context sensitive laugh]

Pick 2
Far cry 1 is a boring as hell techdemo, and it's fairly stupid too. Far cry 2 and 3 were not made by crytek fortunately so they can only be better than the first one

Whatever Crytek were trying to do in Far Cry 1 the succeed in Crysis 1+Warhead. Their only good game.

And their graphics on the PC version is AWESOME!!!

I am trying to buy a desktop PC based on system requirments of either this game or Arma 3, Star Citizen, or Witcher 3.

Which Benchmark do you recommend?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgk-lA12FBk - That is all.

I'm playing FC2 for the third time in a row atm, and I like it a lot. It isn't perfect but it is a nice open-world game. You DO have to be a 'merc' and can't really RP much else. But you can choose how you play your merc.

I played FC1 when it was a current game, and it was fun. But I like FC2 more.