Had a friend over the other day. I was walking up on an outpost with a shotgun and he said 'Probably want your bow for this'. My response was 'If that is how you want to play,' to which he replied 'Well it IS a stealth game'. And honestly... I had been playing it as a stealth game. It appears most others have as well. Since this I've completely changed my style, starting my raid with chaos weapons like grenades and flaming arrows then ending with a shotgun charge. Is anyone else using the full extent of 'Play your own way' system?

Now that I think about it I was largely playing it as a stealth game as well. Though that was mostly because the bonuses for stealth takeovers far outweighed the frontal assault rewards. The XP disparity between a 'Undetected' outpost takeover and a run in and gun everyone down is extreme.

I only used stealth to take down the alarm boxes, then the shotty and flamethrower got pulled out, and I massacred libeally.

I play stealth here and there, but my favorite thing to do is arc explosive or flammable arrows down on a camp of people and as all hell is breaking loose run in and blow guys away with shotguns and the grenade launcher.

Splosions are their own kind of stealth. If everything's blowing up, you're a bit harder to notice.

Nah at some point I said, fuck it and just went guns blazing.. I thought stealth was a joke in terms of difficulty when you had the silenced sniper. 

I just got access to the bow and that thing is amazing for stealth, I'm definitely going to use that a bunch. #yearofthebow

A good solution to the alarm boxes is C4 on the roads to the camp. Blowing up a jeep or two full of enemies will make up lost xp decently.

I stealthed all outposts but mainly actioned all story missions because there isn't an xp bonus. Also, I never used the bow after mid-game, silenced sniper is just so much more reliable.

Once I got a rocket launcher I gave up stealth. And would go out of my way to set off alarms becuse of death from above kills on heavies.

I stealthed everything solely because of the extra XP from knife kills and outpost liberations. I only played on medium difficulty, so doing everything while stealth added an extra challenge.

I usually started out each outpost stealthily, then pulled out my flamethrower when things went bad.

Honestly, once you clear 2 outposts undetected to unlock the one skill that requires that then I say play how you want. Stealth will usually net you more experience, but I didn't really have a problem getting everything in the end.

Sometimes, but most of the time I went in with a bang.

I set things on fire. That's the correct way to do things, right?

Got very tired of the stealth. Eventually just aimed for causing as much bedlam as possible.

I switched it up a lot. Sometimes I went full stealth, sometimes I went guns blazing, sometimes I went in and stealthed a few problem guys (snipers and heavies) then blasted everyone else.

Yeah I get that. I think part of the reason I played as stealth was because whenever I'd stab every fucker in an outpost, I'd feel like a total badass, though I think that my playstyle is more of a run-and-gun now. It's tough with the alarms though.

I've used stealth on every outpost. I just find it a bit more satisfying than simply running in and killing every pirate in 10 seconds. I would rather air drop on a pirate, quickly stab the one next to him, combo takedown another nearby pirate, pull the pin on his grenade and kick him into a group of other pirates. It's great.

I didn't play the game yet but it seems you get more XP for silent kills so I'd be going that way to get max XP and fill out those skill trees.

Killing the alarm in an outpost and silently picking off enemies with my bow is awesome. Much more effective and fun than straight running and gunning. And if one of those pricks actually spots me? There's no backup coming to save you.

Not many games can pull off stealth combat actually being fun. That alone makes Far Cry 3 awesome (even though I suck with the sniper rifle).

Did I mention how much I love the bow? It's a stealth killing machine and a RPG in the same package!

I use stealth to a point but it always breaks down into a fire fight. Calling Far Cry 3 a stealth game though is fucking lunacy.

I mixed it up, most of the outposts I stealthed were the ones with tigers in cages, so I would shoot the cage and then pick guys off with my sniper from a distance. A lot of them I went stealth, got caught, pulled out molotovs and C4 and blew shit the fuck up.

I only went in the outposts with stealth.  So I always carried around the signature sniper and the last sniper with a silencer.  It was real fun but I wish I actually went guns blazing most of the time.  The weapon variety got old quick because i kept using stealthy weapons throughout the game.  

I sent it back to gamefly literally the first time they asked me to stealth. So yeah I only made it like two hours into that game.

For the first 3rd I did stealth, but then after getting the grenade pouch upgraded and a grenade launcher I just kinda went in chucking grenades and c4 everywhere. I think c4 is the best weapon in the game. It was way more fun than stealthing. I usually used my silenced sniper rifle to take out all the alarm boxes first.

Went stealth as much as I could.... used the bow like 80% of the time

@HolyHackZack: Well you get more XP for stealth, but you get more fun with explosions!

They give you shotguns for a reason. Don't feel bad about using them.

I usually use the stealth aspect of the game to set up mines and C4 traps. Then I usually went in with RPGs and grenade launcher until I was out, tossing cocktails early to help really get the fires going. Then switch to shotgun + thrown grenades or flame and wreck whatever was left.

Never used the bow. Very rarely used the sniper rifle. It's kind of a waste of a weapon slot for my playstyle.

Tried to do stealth on the outposts to just get the most out of that & use lots of silenced weapons but as the game goes horribly wrong for me on staying stealthy, I'm fine with just having grenade tossing parties & causing as much chaos as possible.

I didnt find normal all that hard. So not even thinking about it I mainly went in with a assault rifle or light machine gun. 2nd run on hard I saw you got mad exp for taking a camp with no alarms so I started playing stealth.

For practically all of the North Island I went stealth to maximize my XP gain but I already have all the skills now and I finished the game so when I revisit the game later for funsies I'll probably play around with wrecking stuff loud in the South Island since I never touched any of those outposts yet.

I'm doing mostly stealth right now. Its just so much fun sneaking around killing guys.

One of things I like best about the game is that both styles are viable and fun.

I've generally been going back and forth between takedown/sniping and grenade/shotgunning based on whichever mood strikes me when I roll up on 'em.

Yeah I stealth until I'm caught. I'm much happier about being discovered in Far Cry than say Dishonored There isn't really any huge punishment for being caught so I tend to play more naturally.

I am a bubble of fire, explosions, and chaos all those in the world of Far Cry 3 shall fear my name, for I shall bring them death.

That is how I played it.

Yea, I used stealth. But I play that way with most games.

The straight up encourage stealth gameplay so that's what I did for 3/4 of the game. However when I realized I was gonna easily complete the upgrade tree I started to open up yo more.... BOMBbastic approaches

A mix of both is the most satisfying. Arrow kill the sniper, takedown one, knife toss chain stab the next, then it's all flamethrowers and grenades.

I played mostly in stealth. Overtaking a base without setting off an alarm or being spotted is the best.

For most of the time i do play stealth with bow&arrow but sometimes i just feel that i want to go in and cause havoc and don't care about the alarms or anything.

I did a lot of stabbing and throwing knives. It was easier than actually taking the effort to aim and shoot.

The game is great in the sense that it caters to both play styles, when approaching an outpost or quest marker stealth comes in real handy for scoping the place out and taking down as many bad guys before getting caught and even if it all turns to shit the guns in this game are fun to shoot.

Stealth is a bit too easy in this game. It is strange that putting a silencer on a sniperrifle doesn't effect it's range. Anyway, if possible I prefer to free the bear or tiger in the camp, then disable the alarm and kill the few guards left

Use every advantage you can, at every point. If that means being just quiet enough to get the alarms disabled, then so be it.

Also, have fun any way you feel like it. So always do everything always.

Sometimes it's all about dropping two dozen grenades into a base from 350 metres up a mountainside.

Sometimes it's all about rolling into an outpost, deep and dirty with your LMG and C4.

Always.

@HolyHackZack ; Stealth for me, until the S**t hits the fan. I do love releasing the caged wild animals to clear the camps out.

Also trapping animals should be a skill, which then allows you to drive up to a camp, open the cage and then just let the animal rip through.

I felt so much cooler just bum rushing dudes with my shotgun.

I mostly stick with a stealth approach simply because they let me. Whenever a game offers me a stealth option, I take it.

Blame the XP.

I think when I initially started the first few missions I would take a car and drive it through the camp and try and run over the ones who were in my way. After doing missions like that a few times I started doing stealth...

@Milkman said:

I use stealth to a point but it always breaks down into a fire fight. Calling Far Cry 3 a stealth game though is fucking lunacy.

Maybe not the whole game but I'd say that the base takeovers were definitely designed with stealth in mind. The way two guards often stand next to each other under a ledge providing the perfect double jump takedown opportunity, the lone guard on the edge of a pier which allows you to drag and kill him underwater and the one obvious rear entrance to every base all conspire to craft an immensely fun stealth puzzle that provided the best times I had with the game.

The whole game isn't a stealth game (especially the story missions) but I'd say those parts almost certainly were.

I stealth as much as I can, even in missions where enemy placement makes that near impossible. Took out my first outpost on the second island with a single silent .50cal bullet (dropped a sniper), my knife, and some guards' knife which I threw into the last guards' neck. Second outpost saw me get a triple headshot with one bullet, a double kill (headshot on a guard dog and somehow killed a guy via leg shot, with one bullet), and a third bullet on a bear cage, where the bear the just killed the rest for me.

The "Heavy Beatdown" skill, or whatever it's called, is so awesome.

But I do think that after I get the last few skills I don't have, I'll probably change it up a bit. The Flamethrower, LMG, Grenade Launcher and RPG combo seems great. Expensive as all hell, but great.