Far Cry 5 tips on making the entire game more enjoyable

It's been a while since I have enjoyed a game as much as I have enjoyed Far Cry 5. It is truly a wonderful experience for people that enjoy open world games, are kind of keen on FPS but aren't really hardcore about it, and the sound and story are so incredible in this journey that I didn't even complain about it (much) when the cutscenes were happening.

There were some thing that I learned along the way that I wish I had known early on that made the game a lot more enjoyable later on though, and I think that for people that are struggling a bit with the game early on that these tips might help people to not quit on this game - I nearly did until I accidentally figured this stuff out and it made the game so much more fun.

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Do not attempt to take out John's territory first

The game recommends that you take over John's territory first and I think this is a big mistake. You have the option of going anywhere that you want on the map into John, Faith, or Jacob's territory. Your "helper" informs you that you can take them out in any order that you want, but they recommend John's territory first and I think this is a mistake that nearly resulted in me putting the game down for good.

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There isn't a tremendous difference in difficulty in any of the 3 regions so I am not very clear on why it is that they suggest John's territory first. The only thing that I can think of is that perhaps the cult outposts are more difficult in Jacob's region but once you kind of figure out the game a bit, none of those save one or two are particularly hard.

I say to not attempt to take over John's territory first is because there is a dungeon / bunker that must be completed before you officially "take over" the region and IMO and the opinion of most people that have played the game John's is the most difficult by a long shot. I must have died in what I considered to be rather unfair circumstances around 20 times or so. I was about to quit playing the game because of this difficulty spike but then just decided to go to another territory instead. The other boss bunkers are substantially easier than John's and you can always come back and complete John's bunker once you are powered up a bit later in the game.

Get the M-60 as soon as possible

There are a lot of weapons in Far Cry 5 but most of them are not very good. They either do too little damage or require too much reloading. The M-60 is a much better weapon than any of the other machine guns in the game.

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You can buy the M60 after just a little bit of conquest in the game or you will find it on armored enemies. I recommend simply buying it. There is plenty of money in the open world in FC5, so I don't think that there is any particularly good reason to be miserly. When I completed the game I had around $100k unspent so the couple of thousand that purchasing the M60 is going to cost you is extremely irrelevant. Once you go M60, you are never going to want to use any other weapon for close combat unless the mission calls for stealth. Seriously, it is almost unfair how OP this weapon is compared to all the other options.

Get a companion that will tag enemies

The number of companions that you can get in the game is very high and most of them don't have abilities that are terribly beneficial, except for this one, very important characteristic that many of them have.

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When you find a companion that will auto-tag enemies make sure that you do not accidentally release them or if you do, go back and find them and re-hire them. The auto tagging of enemies is extremely beneficial in combat because otherwise enemies can be quite difficult to spot. When enemies are tagged, it makes combat a lot easier since their camouflage is negated. I find that a long-range (sniper) companion with the auto-tag ability is the best option you can have. There is a dog companion that will auto-tag, but his attack is rather weak and he is easily downed. Plus it's a dog so you feel extra bad about it when he dies.

Do not engage with enemy airplanes unless you have to

When enemy aircraft are introduced to the gameplay it can be rather annoying. They obviously are faster than you are on foot or in a vehicle, they do massive damage, and they can spot you anywhere except under trees and will pursue you rather relentlessly.

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The reason why I say to just avoid them is because while it might be gratifying to shoot down an airplane, there isn't really any incentive to do so. You are going to use a ton of ammo taking down one of these guys, and then when they crash, hilariously without any sort of explosion, you don't even get any items or rewards for having done so.

If you find yourself in a part of the game where there are airplanes constantly on your ass, you can circumvent this by having Nick Rye in your party

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With Nick in your party he will automatically engage with all enemy aircraft and I don't know if this was intentional or not, but he is a much better pilot than the enemy is and will take most of them out unassisted.

Hunt in Faith's territory to make money

Money becomes rather irrelevant later in the game but in the first 40% or so of the game it is pretty important and might be the only way you can get more ammo. By unlocking the "Harvest Master" perk - which is a cheap one that you can get really early on - you will double the amount of animal skins that you get from killing anything.

Go to Faith's region and head into the woods. Faith is able to spawn enemies at will and in the forest, these enemies will frequently be bears, wolverines, or other animals. There are also plenty of other wildlife in this area naturally. You can walk around and collect skins to make money rather quickly in her zone because there doesn't seem to be any sort of limit to how many times she will spawn these enemies.

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There are other tips that I found out along the way but this is already long enough. I think that if you follow these tips that the game will be far more enjoyable for most players, especially heeding the warning about John's bunker being a bit overpowered to take on first, like they suggest in the game.

Even if you don't follow any of this advice, I still think that Far Cry 5 is one of the best open-world RPG's that I have played in a very long time. I've completed it and I already miss it!