Prior to landing on the idea for Far Cry 4, Ubisoft designers considered a more “traditional” sequel to 2012’s Far Cry 3, something that would have amounted to what producer Dan Hay calls Far Cry 3.5. This game would have expanded on Far Cry 3’s story and locations, but Ubisoft needed less than a week to decide that this was not the right path to go down.

“We definitely had the option of making a 3.5, of making a choice to just stay in the same location with the same characters,” Hay said in a post on the UbiBlog. “We talked about the idea of taking Jason’s story and growing it, maybe figuring out a way to bring Vaas back. And very quickly we realized that it wasn’t going to be a thing that we wanted to do. So we stopped that conversation and said, that’s the end of the 3.5 conversation–which lasted probably about four days.”

What separates Far Cry 4 from Far Cry 3, outside of its new story and setting, is its “we want it all” design, Hay says. This deliberate approach has resulted in a number of franchise-firsts, like the ability to ride elephants and fly.

“We like the fact that we’re a little bit Wild West,” Hay said. “We like the fact that somebody’s going to be able to kick out an idea that people will think is way too much. And then somebody else goes, ‘Maybe that’s why you should do it. Maybe that’s what makes sense.'”

Far Cry 4 launches on November 18 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC. Ubisoft recently announced that it’s targeting 1080p resolution for the Xbox One and PS4 versions of the game, though final figures have not yet been revealed. For more on Far Cry 4, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage.

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