Stumbled on Jacob's main Nasty Place (looks like an abandoned asylum/Catholic orphanage) where the shooting gallery stuff happens, you eat dogfood &ct., so I essayed an assault. Funny thing happens there. You can kill guards from across the pond, but when you approach the gates you pass out and wake up... across the pond. This was shortly before I did the kill Jacob finale. Luckily I have the option of not doing the rescue the Whitetail fuckups who got themselves locked up in his bunker, so that leaves me free to roam around the mountains killing plenty o' beasts and cultists who like me don't know when to quit. Last night I walked right up to one of his super-sekrit 'hunters' (they don't get the red markers, and are meaner than snakes) and shot him in the head with an arrow, making me realize I had left difficulty on easy after the Only You mission.

OH yeah almost forgot: in the final  Jacob's shooting gallery trial, I killed the Whitetail's leader-hero dude (again), but this time instead of dumping me back at the wolfs den to get shouted at, it segued immediately into the kill Jacob finale.

That was the sucker-punch I was referring to. As I remember, you turn a corner and the game jump-scares you into shooting him (though I only played it the once and I have teh 60s.

I'm interested if anything different happens if you don't kill him.

He draws his bow on you, I hesitated long enough to notice. Kill or be killed I reckon.

If I revisit it in future - probably more likely after playing ND, and knowing that it's only a little apocalypse - I'll try to brass it out.

The chatter among the GFH is he will be sorely missed, but then they're also glad John's dead (he isn't).

I have some time for Jacob: he's just a product of his history. The child is father to the man, and all that. Bet he smells of stale* though.


*As Big Breakfast puppets Zig & Zag once described Lemmy.

My theory is he's been drugged and brainwashed by Jacob.

Armed and dangerous, call 911 but do not approach.

Jacob is misunderstood, and in need of an intervention (and yes, a bath). And for god's sake, to lay off the crystal meth.

Here's how to get into Jacob's mansion (haven't tried it yet):

Does his mansion survive the apocalypse, do you know?

I've only played the 'resist' ending where you wind up in a bunker as Joseph's prisoner then the credits roll. Does the apocalypse also happen in the 'walk away' ending?

I'm a bit baffled by the apocalypse: as near as I can make out the cult crazies predicted, rather than triggered or instigated it, based on some snatches of ominous radio news broadcasts about shit going down in the world outside their control.

Anyway the mansion is intact (as is everything else) in Game+ replay. The only clue of 'post-apocalypse' is the splash screen, otherwise it's identical to the original game, apart from you starting with all the dough, weapons and points you had earned there.

Also it says you can't change difficulty after starting Game+, but I later found out that ain't true (thank fuck).

I don't believe so. You drive away, 'Only You' plays on the radio and the Sheriff notes that you're looking at him strangely. Fade to suggestive black. The mission isn't complete either.  It just resets to the start of the final mission.

You know there's another ending, right at the start - you can walk away from your first encounter with Seed then, and trigger another ending.

I agree about the apocalypse. Unless there's a great unspoken slice of conspiracy, Seed's a seer, not a protagonist.

I'll go visit the mansion tomorrow evening.

The get inside the mansion trick didn't work for me.

Door not open?

I swam underwater up to the mansion (as close as you can get in the pond) but never heard the "only you" overture, so I didn't wait around to drown. Jacob's dog food is delicious, but it's not to die in vain for.

Ah. Maybe I did it wrong. Another video sez you have to pass out once then try it. Next time.

The double-barreled shotgun is a revelation. With the incendiary shells, you can shoot down helicopters.

My supercharged ND HMG firing armour-piercing rounds downs helicopters in a few bursts.

I can reliably bring down choppers with the AKM + armor-piercing rounds, and (less reliably) the mp5k with same. I did down one once with a single sniper round from a considerable distance (the 'Nam svd is awesome). I was a bit disappointed to learn last night the FC5 "double-barreled shotgun" is a re-badged .700 nitro from FC4. But that doesn't shoot incendiary shells (I think).

So I tried out another Arcade map, Joseph's Campground (are we sensing a theme here?). It was pretty good, house to house fighting against relatively determined and skillful enemies with limited ammo and a few caches scattered here and there, not the best load out, but not too tough to beat. I scouted out some more possibles here: https://www.pcgamer.com/best-far-cry-5-arcade-maps/

Which I have loaded a list of onto my phone email client for in-game access.

The Cabin in the Woods
Author: NikoWZRD

Welcome Home
Author: Silverish

Arena Master
Author: chacko123

Welcome to Elk Jaw Lodge
Author: Sundic_Ouff

Outskirts Outpost
Author: rat_trash.

Safe Haven
Author: Ubisoft

Ah yes, thing to watch out for is arcade maps are playable on only one platform, whether console or pc.

I've played a few and enjoyed most of them. Even the bad ones teach you about what makes good level design.

I wonder whether Ubidoobi will open the ND Expeditions to fan build? Conceptually, they're made for it - being both standalone maps and (vaguely) integrated into the overarching narrative. I don't know enough about map building to know whether the event-triggered arrival of the rescue copter would be difficult to implement or not.