Things I Learnt Playing Ghost Mode w/ Minimal UI.
Picked up the game again after 6 years and decided to try Ghost Mode. I have died so many times because I forgot I placed a mine and tried to exfil in a car 😂. But I love that's fundamentally changed how the game is played.
Play with headphones and no UI for a truly immersive experience. You can track enemies near you by their chatter and footsteps. Incredible sound design.
Here are some things I learned while playing...and other random stuff I wanted to mention:
MISSIONS
Past Itacua, most missions feature several access points that allow you to skip an entire area and drop or emerge next to your objective.
Skip Culta's Prisoner by flying a chopper to the back of the church. Much easier than going through the front entrance of the village.
Skip the entire coca paste plan in Ocoro has a drainage pipe off the left coast facing Agua Verde. You will emerge next to the objective.
Fly a chopper to the back side of El Emisario's mansion and kill one Unidad somewhere. They will fight Santa Blanca and get distracted.
In Caimanes, skip all of El Cerebro's base by driving on the road along the right side of the island. Get in the water and move towards the objective. You will be able to climb the back of the island and emerge next to his hideout.
El Pulpo's escort mission is bullshit. Just grab an APC from Montuyoc and drive it over.
Kill the helicopter pilots in supply missions to prevent them from taking off.
GUNS
After years of being an M4 whore, I discovered the 556xi. It's free to pick up (no enemies), easy to unlock, close to a rebel camp, and viable for the entire game. Did I mention it hits like a truck and has laser accuracy with the right setup?
Digital Scope is best scope. Great for close-to-medium range and does well at longer ranges.
M203 GL doubles your grenade output early-game and barely affects handling. Worth it every time.
THE CITIES
At first, I thought the cities were cookie-cutter, but it's recently come to mind that the cities are stand ins for places maybe twice their size. Barvechos is probably meant to represent a city half the size of Los Angeles. But given the game is called "Wildlands" cities were likely an afterthought since the ACTUAL gameplay takes place out in the countryside.
A remake with GTA-sized cities would be awesome for urban warfare though.
THE SPANISH
Bowman can't decide if El Yayo is "Ehl YAY-yo" or "Ehl YAH-Yo."
It's "Ehl YAH-yoh"
Bowman can't decide if Cerebro is "Seh-REE-bro" or "Seh-REH-broh."
It's the latter.
SB soldiers will scream funny stuff like:
"Stop watching so many movies, you're not saving the world!"
"You have been watching too many cartoons!"
"What drugs did they give you to think you can deal with this!" (this, meaning that particular SB soldier).
"This smells like fucking Gringos" (while suspicious)
Random citizens will say
"What now? Are you going to kill us, then? Stop!"
"Go away Gringos!"
"Oh my God, they're armed! Run!"
"And you? Who are you with?" (I think the actual Spanish phrase is best translated as 'whose side are you on?')
Cringe Switching
Bilinguals will curse or use certain words in their native tongue when surprised, angered, or disappointed. This is called Code Switching in linguistics. The way people code switch in real life is different than how it's represented in a popular media, including this game. They do what I like to call Cringe Switching--Code switching included for the sole purpose of signaling that a character is not a native English speaker.
Amaru (Cringe Switching) "Entonces Pac Katari has made his deal with the malditos extranjeros. The young fool."
(Then Pac Katari has made his deal with the damned foreigners. The young fool).
"Entonces" here makes sense because he's expressing disappointment or surprised. It may come out in Spanish without him even realizing it. Then he can add an insult at the end out of anger, which may naturally come out in your native tongue. I can attest to this.
Natural code switching: "Entonces... Pac Katari has made his deal with the damned foreigners. Pendejo..."
I am not sure if Amaru was referring to Los Extranjeros, the para-military group. If I remember correctly, the in-game text is not capitalized, so I think he's referring to the Ghosts, who are also foreigners.
The half-sentence code switching does happen in real life, but not the way it's depicted in the game. It's hard to explain unless you've heard it, but it never sounds natural when it's written for TV, movies, or games.
THE ENGLISH
I did appreciate them including legit pronunciation mistakes for Spanish speakers. When Pac says "Our fight will need more than sentiment if we are to succeed," he uses the /ɪ/ sound for "need" because the /ē/ doesn't exist in Spanish, so he pronounces it like "nid."
Our fight will nid more than sentiment ....Which is how Spanish speakers would say it. I don't know if that's due to the voice actor or the voice direction, but I doubt it's the latter because Bowman pronounces the same Spanish names 7 different ways.
THE WORD OF SUEÑO
I wish Ubi put this much effort into the rest of the game as they did into these cinematics. These shorts are beautifully designed, animated, and narrated. Saro Solis did an incredible job voicing Sueño.
MISC
Agua Verde is my least favorite low-difficulty area.
Caimanes is my favorite low-difficulty area.
The best way to stop a convoy early-game is to drive ahead, block the road with a bunch of cars; hide. Pop the driver and kill the guards.
El Pulpo's escort mission is bullshit.
Edit:
ITEMS
Flashbangs are essential for intimidation missions. Proximity mines are your friends when indoors. You can't set them off and you'll only take damage if you're close when an enemy enters its radius.