5 September 2015
The general consensus on Far Cry 4 is a beautiful open world with fantastic gameplay and so many interesting and diverse side quests to complete. The main story is never seen as the highlight, and many reviews mention a distracting story or weak characters aside from Pagan Min. And I would be inclined to agree with this, even right up to the final cutscene. However completing that final mission really does payoff (if you've made the right choices) and there is a brilliantly simple story behind liberating Kyrat.
Firstly here are the decisions I made in my playthrough the game as Ajay. When it came to choosing which Golden Path missions to take on, I always chose Amita's. Her aim was to fund the revolution against the Royal Army and no traditional values would stop her. Sabal on the other hand was always focused on preserving Kyrat's heritage however didn't seem to have a plan against King Min's reign. As Ajay was an American and Amita did have a plan this seemed the logical choice. I stuck with Amita right up to Act 4 and the Jalendu temple mission. She wanted to destroy the historic picturesque monument, so that Kyrat "was no longer stuck in the past". This seemed a step too far and so I had to switch to Sabal's mission and saved the temple. Little did I realise that was the last choice to make between the Golden Path leaders and the next mission tasks you with murdering the other. With a pistol in my hands pointed straight at Amita, I could never pull the trigger.
After storming the Royal Fortress and confronting Pagan Min for the final time, the story comes alive. He welcomes you in, offers you a feast of food, and you have a gun pointed at his head. I thought to myself what has this guy actually done wrong? Why is he not putting up any defence? Supposedly the villain of the entire game but I couldn't do it. The key word there being supposedly. After taking a mouthful of food, King Min, true to his word, lead Ajay outside to lay his mother's ashes to rest at Lakshmana - the whole reason he came to Kyrat. Pagan Min then happily leaves, giving you full control of the country. It was the perfect ending to the story, every objective complete.
Now for the detail, and there were some shocking moments in that final cutscene. Firstly Lakshmana is a person not a place! Furthermore it is the daughter of Ajay's mother Ishwari and Pagan Min! How did this happen? Regardless, Ajay's father Mohan killed Lakshmana causing Ishwari to kill Mohan as a terrible cycle of revenge. Clearly the Ghale family had some serious domestic issues. The affair is also what fuelled Mohan to start the Golden Path with the aim of dethroning King Min.
But what would have happened if Ajay had shot Pagan Min? Well it turns out you would not know any of the detail above. The game literally ends right there. But here's what can be implied. The Royal Army would be defeated with no vicious leader and the Golden Path would most likely take over Kyrat. This completes the work set out by Ajay's father. On the other hand Ajay would never find Lakshmana - the location to rest the ashes, which would not be fulfilling his mother's dying wish. Granted this was only in a hut a few yards away, so Ajay may have found it, but no in-game cutscene would show this. So in a way, either ending chosen pleases one of his deceased parents.
But possibly the best twist to this story is the simplest of all. Back at the dinner table scene with Pagan Min, before the chance to kill him, he says to Ajay "all you had to do was wait". At the beginning of the game when we see a ruthless Pagan and Ajay is believed to have been captured, Pagan is distracted by a phone call and says "I'll be right back". This is seen as the perfect opportunity to escape which prompts the start of the game. However if Ajay could have seen the events unfold, he probably would have stayed put (I know I certainly would on a second playthrough). On Pagan's return, both he and Ajay would have stepped outside to lay his mother's ashes to rest. Story over. And this isn't just a theory, this is implemented in the game! Stay at the dinner table for 15 minutes, Pagan returns, and a slightly different final cutscene plays out but with the same action of Ajay placing the ashes. I couldn't believe this was possible - such a brilliant idea. I can't imagine anyone actually doing this without prior knowledge though. Pagan Min is portrayed as such an evil man in the beginning, and even on the box art. Having said that he really isn't too different from Ajay. Both capable of killing hundreds but honest at heart. When you think about it Pagan never lies to you and is one of the most welcoming characters you meet. He even takes a selfie with you after stopping the bus.
So hopefully this shows that there is a very clever story behind Far Cry 4, and it's not just about capturing outposts. There are no weak main characters and it's easy to become attached to Sabal or Amita. Also despite Ajay's story being a very simple one, there is much more that can be read into the Ghale family, the Golden Path and Pagan Min for story lovers out there. One interesting theory is the Golden Path are actually a bunch of terrorists, disrupting order in Kyrat. I strongly encourage watching the following video which opened my eyes further on the campaign and inspired me to write this article. Here's hoping Far Cry 5 will have a similar twisted plot.