[Official] ArmA 2 (PC) , Q2+ 2009

[Digitalx]

Speech in game still all stupid and stuttery ?

[Sethos]

Speech in game still all stupid and stuttery ?

Yeah. They did try to prevent that by recording longer conversations and radio commands but when it comes to dynamic combat "Man at 50 Meters" etc. it has actually gotten worse :/

[Digitalx]

Yeah. They did try to prevent that by recording longer conversations and radio commands but when it comes to dynamic combat "Man at 50 Meters" etc. it has actually gotten worse :/

Yeah that's really annoyance i've found even with dynamic sound you can blend it better they just haven't done it.

If had to deal with someone speaking on comms to me in real life like that i would probably gouge my eyes out before having to put up with it lol... lets hope OFP2 can do better job of it.

I'm interested in this but the let down of ArmA how shoddy the quality was of it kind of puts me off :/ I have a feeling more then anything this looks to be more of an upgraded graphics with similar shoddy game play imo.

[gasdfdasfa31231as]

I don't recall losing any gear in Armed Assault when you swam, is it a bug you are referring to? As for Armed Assault 2, I still kept my gear when I came out of the water ... exactly like ArmA 1.

If you swam in deep water for long enough, you'd lose your rifle.

Those UAV look awesome - very jealous.

[Sethos]

I'm interested in this but the let down of ArmA how shoddy the quality was of it kind of puts me off :/ I have a feeling more then anything this looks to be more of an upgraded graphics with similar shoddy game play imo.

You can read my impression from a few pages back, my thoughts on the game. I can with certainty say this is above and beyond the original ArmA. Just the fact they fixed the building clipping issues opens up for a TON of possibilities in multiplayer with urban combat settings. Plus aiming, animations and overall gameplay has also gotten a real kick - It actually feels like a solid game you'd play instead of just standing on the sideline watching the combat. Not to mention the new default sounds are amazing! While ArmA players will see similarities in gameplay and the engine ( VBS1 to VBS2 ) the game has gotten a serious overhaul. ArmA did lack some soul and passion, ArmA 2 brought all that back.

If you swam in deep water for long enough, you'd lose your rifle.

Hmm, never tried that - I will test it later by doing some ocean swims. I usually only swim in tiny lakes and ponds, swimming over larger distances in this game takes too long :laugh:

[gasdfdasfa31231as]

Hmm, never tried that - I will test it later by doing some ocean swims. I usually only swim in tiny lakes and ponds, swimming over larger distances in this game takes too long :laugh:

It does take ages, just ditch a chopper 50m from the carrier or shoreline, you'll see what happens soon enough :D

[Sethos]

It does take ages, just ditch a chopper 50m from the carrier or shoreline, you'll see what happens soon enough :D

Yep, still happens - Think it's a "You ditched your rifle and focused on staying afloat" kind of feature. If I was in the middle of the ocean somewhere with a rifle, I'd probably ditch it as well :laugh:

[Richard Hammond]

Excellent im glad it plays better than Arma as i thought OpFlash was great but ArmA was lacking somewhat.

[gasdfdasfa31231as]

Yep, still happens - Think it's a "You ditched your rifle and focused on staying afloat" kind of feature. If I was in the middle of the ocean somewhere with a rifle, I'd probably ditch it as well :laugh:

Yeah, taht's the one I meant. Last question, how is the C130 to fly?

[Sethos]

Yeah, taht's the one I meant. Last question, how is the C130 to fly?

Honestly? It's crap. Feels like flying some tiny two-seater, it doesn't have the appropriate weight or feel of a huge plane combine that with the VBS engines handling of planes in general and you have a cocktail for disaster. It does sound and look mighty nice from the ground but in the hot-seat it's nothing spectacular.

[gasdfdasfa31231as]

That's a shame, looks like a helo-only game for me then.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Some German review trashed this giving it 4/10 due to bugs.

Apparently the devs lost the plot and started even claiming "codemaster spies" involved :laugh:

[gasdfdasfa31231as]

Some German review trashed this giving it 4/10 due to bugs.

Apparently the devs lost the plot and started even claiming "codemaster spies" involved :laugh:

In contrast, one German review (ePrison.de) gave it 83% :D

[Sethos]

Some German review trashed this giving it 4/10 due to bugs.

Apparently the devs lost the plot and started even claiming "codemaster spies" involved :laugh:

Sounds like an interesting review :laugh:

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Sounds like an interesting review :laugh:

Have fun with the drama!

The German version was released today. First reviews:

PC Action 4/10

and a list of bugs from them and users who got the game today:

- Campaign is unplayable and impossible to complete due to many scripting errors, broken checkpoints and "missing file" errors.

- Many people can't get game to install.

- bugged pathfinding sometimes makes it impossible to meet NPC?s needed for missions as the NPC?s are not where they are supposed to be but instead are wandering through the woods, lost with their own pathfinding routines

- Missions are reported "failed", even if the player hasn?t even picked the mission yet.

- Motorcycles that have fallen on the ground can?t be used again

- Ingame performance on a Core2Duo @3,16 GHz, 3 GB RAM, Gerforce 8800 GTS 512 MB

is not that satisfying. There are freezes during gaming.

- enemy AI can see through foliage; the higher the detail settings (the more foliage on display) the more you are at a disadvantage

- bugs already in the tutorial missions: translation mistakes; AI doesn't react at one time, reacts way too earlier the next time; firing the Javelin launches the sights along with the missile (!)

- neither the manual nor the tutorials provide a sufficient introduction to many of the game's features

- AI soldier doesn't react to his squadmate getting shot right next to him

- robot-like precision of injured AI enemies, can pinpoint your location in a heartbeat; seems unfair and not very life-like

- attack chopper crashes into the ground on attack approach (editor)

- AI: often doesn't react at all, won't follow orders

- missions: scripts get screwed up, script error messages appear, missions won't proceed, important characters don't appear; mission Manhattan not completable

- clipping errors

- horrible (german) subtitles and translation

- lots of crashes

- Arma2 is Arma1 with a Graphics update + new island and units - not more not less.

- On top of it its pretty bugged or feels some sort of "incomplete" to me, to much variation in quality and so on. In SP there are no big show-stoppers but in MP i already had a couple of CTDs after a like 10 minute long JIP Phase.

- Many scripts in the stock MP missions are bugged, very often i got messages like "You can not play this mission because it depends on downloadable content that has been removed: CA_particleeffects" and various other core "addons".

- No AA settings. Instead you have "Fillrate optimiser" which is like AA (100% = no AA, 150% = 2xFSAA, 200% = 4xFSAA) only it's much more demanding.

- AI is still very stupid. So far i could not see the benefits of the Mirco AI - and i have a Quadcore with 3.4GHz....

- View distance is a major FPS killer. I set mine to 1200 for maximum performance

- Setting model details too high will really kill performance in city areas.

There were many more but I can only copy & paste so much.

BIS's CEO responded to this by claiming "Teh bias&quagain (previously he attacked another site for a preview of Arma2 not being 100% positive, claiming they held a grudge against BIS. His evidence for this was that they gave Arma1 7/10 even though they were expected to give it a high score because he gave them the exclusive review)

http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=...;postcount=4155

You're hysterically panicking on a gaming forum because 1 PC magazine publishes a clearly bashing post about our game without even contacting us first to check on the issues at hand?

To my knowledge nobody at BIS have been contacted by PCgames.de about these issues. Of all the devs in the world I would imagine we're just about the easiest to get hold of via PM/Email/Skype/MSN/ICQ.

Whether the issues are genuinely caused by the code they have been sent, or caused by some human error on their part, they should have contacted us first to try to investigate the cause, to publish such an excessively negative and inflammatory article without trying to resolve the issues directly first is IMO extremely unprofessional.

Newsflash, they are under no obligation to check with the devs that the game is indeed broken and not a figment of their imagination. The CEO then went onto claim it was their site that was at fault because they must have installed it on a comp that used a previous build and the save&config files were conflicting, even though a BIS dev then posted that they should have coded it so save files were tagged with build numbers to stop things like the files from the upcoming demo conflicting with the full game. The site in question, PC Games.de (website for PC Action, largest PC media outlet in germany) then replied that the game was installed on several computers, none of which had the preview builds running on them. They then posted a video of some bugs to show that they did exist (and were later confirmed by users who got it from shops), including

- player can?t get into vehicle although ordered to

- Nightview scene: AI is running through walls right in front of player

- AI drivers going nuts with hmmv and truck AI vehicle control is bugged

- AI in building is not reacting AT ALL. The enemy player can dance around them without anything happening.

http://www.pcgames.de/aid,685486/ArmA-2-PC...Update/PC/News/[/uCurrently the CEO is going round the official forums attacking anyone who speaks negatively claiming they're trolls or Codemasters plants..

Anyway, they are releasing a patch either today or tomorrow, and probably another in between the EU release but I don't see much hope for it especially as the AI has the same problems that were in OFP and Arma1. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice and I'm buying it second hand so you don't get my money. I know it's strange to make a thread for a **** game but people like him, the Derek Smarts, Denis Dyacks, David Perrys, that douche who did Sword of the Stars and anyone else who blames everyone for their failings deserve to be named and shamed.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=363251

[Richard Hammond]

Sigh i was fedup of the robot AI in ArmA being able to pinpoint you from long distances from behind hills and through trees.

[Sethos]

Can't be bothered reading all that drama and getting tangled up in it :laugh: I just know I enjoy the game and will be playing it the next few years, that's good enough for me. As for the AI, it has been toned down a lot, there isn't any superhuman aimbotting going on anymore - Anyone claiming otherwise is just an ass standing in a wide open space waiting to be shot.

[Digitalx]

thats good they fixed ai also better graphics hopefully improves distant aiming with assault rifles so can see what and where you're shooting rather them focusing on where 2-4 pixels are moving on the screen its definitely an upside using aliasing in shooter games.

Dont mind to be a pain i just lazy with reading today but how much does take to kill someone in it ? doesn't take them 4 shots to take their legs out them about 4 to kill them as they crawl away ?

[Sethos]

Dont mind to be a pain i just lazy with reading today but how much does take to kill someone in it ? doesn't take them 4 shots to take their legs out them about 4 to kill them as they crawl away ?

Has become a bit more realistic, you also gotta remember the new 'injury' system where injured infantry becomes unable to move but is still alive, you can also drag them off the battlefield, perform 'medic' business and all that shabang :p

I just spawned some enemies, unarmed without any armour and the maximum number of shots they could take was 2, that was in legs, arms etc. chests, head and other crucial areas were one shots.

EDIT: With armour, they sometimes remain standing for a few seconds before falling over. They also get this really constipated look in their face :laugh:

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Great screenshots, Sethos. I think you convinced me to buy the game when it's released in North America. The only thing I'm worried about is performance at 1680x1050 with my HD 4870. I'd love to have my settings at high but I'm willing to sacrifice image quality for performance. Well, only to a certain degree. I'd hate to play a poorly detailed game and still suffer performance issues. I realize you said that it runs great but I believe you have an HD 4870X2.

[ObiWanToby]

I'll wait for a review before I waste my money. This is one of the few PC only games left.

I am afraid for the quality, and for the level of realism. Is this game super real? There needs to be some level of fake.

[Sethos]

Great screenshots, Sethos. I think you convinced me to buy the game when it's released in North America. The only thing I'm worried about is performance at 1680x1050 with my HD 4870. I'd love to have my settings at high but I'm willing to sacrifice image quality for performance. Well, only to a certain degree. I'd hate to play a poorly detailed game and still suffer performance issues. I realize you said that it runs great but I believe you have an HD 4870X2.

Yeah, I am running a 4870X2, so my performance experience won't translate very well to most people. With that said though, the game is very scalable and runs okay on a wide variety of computers. A 4870 is not a bad card by any standard, so you shouldn't be worried - The developers just keep recommending Dual cores or higher, so the game does suck quite a bit of CPU power as well.

I'll wait for a review before I waste my money. This is one of the few PC only games left.

I am afraid for the quality, and for the level of realism. Is this game super real? There needs to be some level of fake.

The game is built on the VBS2 engine, an engine currently licensed to various military branches across the world. The game is filled with realistic elements and a sort of gameplay you don't find many other places, this is not just some run & gun game. Yes, the game of course has a few compromises to actually make it playable but it is the most realistic military simulator you will find on the game shelves today.

As for quality, Bohemia have had years of experience creating and building this amazing game, they do a great job and their patches usually add a LOT to the game. The foundation the game is built on is very solid. Unfortunately they aren't the best at creating single-player campaigns, they are usually quite boring, hard and filled with bugs and broken checkpoints. This has happened ever since the first Operation Flashpoint and that's why this game won't get top reviews, because they focus on all the Single-player bugs. Not that I care, this game is meant to be played online and to toy around the editor - Not kidding you, I played OFP + expansions for over 3 years and the first ArmA for over 2, I never, ever completed a single-player mission or a campaign in any of the games, I spent 70% of the time in the editor creating my own scenarios and the rest of the time online.

Anyone who's afraid of realism, slow and tactical gameplay should just stay clear of this.

Anyway, was just playing a mission I made and came across this area in the game, had set the time to 6:20 and found this beautiful area! The lighting, the misty mountain in the background, the atmosphere was just stunning, guess you had to be there :)

[|Rapture|]

Arma 2 will be available on Steam at the end of the month. They want ?36.99 for it in the UK which imo, is insane. You can buy the DVD version from Gameplay for ?24.99. 50% more for the privilege to download, thanks BIS.

As much as I loved OFP and Resistance I don't have much hope for Arma 2 or OFP 2. Arma was horrible, BIS need to pay more attention to the modding community as they have continually made their games much more complete. The Arma campaign was sloppy and the choices you made on the map seemed to make no difference at all in the grand scheme of things.

Another problem for me is the micromanagement needed to make your squad survive some of the later missions. (OFP and Resistance especially, I gave up much earlier with Arma) The solo special forces mission which I thought should have been more tense and difficult ended up feeling like a holiday in comparison to getting 10 men to lie down behind cover and return fire.

I've played some great 3rd party missions though, maybe I'll wait till the price comes down and the editing community makes it playable.

[ObiWanToby]

Will there be a demo. I want to know how this game feels. The level of realism bothers me because I am not sure if I can get other people to play it with me :p Realism is not bad, but there is a fine line between fun and real.

[|Rapture|]

There was a demo for the original OFP which will give you some idea of how it plays. Odd vehicle control aside, it's probably as realistic as games get.