ArmA2 1000x better than ArmA?
Westworld
ArmA. Going by what I am reading at the below url it is the same buggy
shit as the last version only with improved graphics.
Memnoch
As far as I can see it is the same game with a slightly streamlined unit
control interface and improved graphics. They certainly haven't improved the
performance any great shakes at least.
Westworld
> As far as I can see it is the same game with a slightly streamlined unit
> control interface and improved graphics. They certainly haven't improved the
> performance any great shakes at least.
OK, thanks. I figured that mod at simhq.com was a fanboi shill and it
certainly looks that way from where I sit. I see a lot of that over at
that forum. Mods suppress negative opinions of games and they even have
a hidden forum for members only to discuss DRM issues in games. Why hide
a forum about DRM in games that non members would probably like to read?
Only reason I can think is that they don't want to piss off game
publishers so hide negative DRM issues fom lurkers so it won't stop them
from buying a game. There was a WWI flight sim just released called Rise
of Flight and it's DRM requires you to be connected to their servers on
the internet all the time just to play single player mode. How messed up
is that?
Memnoch
Don't get me wrong the game is great fun in MP. I don't think it is such a
great single player game mainly because BIS are not very good at artificial
stupidity. The biggest criticism is the laser like vision of enemies able to
hit you sneaking throught the grass 2 miles away. You can dumb this down but
the trick is to make it realistic and that's where I think they fall down.
I remember a mod that would project a big arrow at a spot where the enemy AI
thought you were. Having someone up on a hill side behind rocks hidden from
the enemy below and then have that soldier take a single shot at the enemy.
The arrow appears straight on top of where you are! The AI did not have just a
vague idea of where you were it knew exactly. That showed it up quite nicely
for what it was.
Tim O
wrote:
>This mod at a web forum claimed that ArmA2 is 1000 times better than
I'm trying to like this game, because I love the sheer scope of what
it's trying to do, but I can tell you the AI is not very polished.
You can watch AI controlled vehicles just drive around smashing down
trees and fences and not engaging enemies 20 yards away.
I was in a firefight and taking hits and jumped in a Humvee only to
have it drive around in cirlces and bumping into a house.
The controls seem needlessly complex. I'm sure you get used to it, but
whats the use of having levels upon levels of AI control when they
don't seem to respond to it anyway.
I wound up (probably rather stupidly) playing it like a survival game
by wandering into enemy range and trying to snipe from cover or blow
stuff up with grenades. The potential shows, because even doing stupid
stuff like running around and hiding, I was having a lot of fun.
My overall impression is that this game is 2 or 3 patches away from
being great.
Tim
RP
news:pc8n45lgrg0k0qnrs...@4ax.com...
I think ARMA 2 is a 1000 times better than ARMA 1. Here are some of my
reasons:
1. The camera. For me this seemingly trivial improvement is the biggest. For
the first time when I run into combat it feels like I'm running and not some
'thing' mounted on wheels. I don't know what they did but your movements are
now exactly as you expect them to be for infantry. For me this singular
improvement has multiplied my immersion by a large factor.
The camera seems to produce movements much akin to those you see from war
correspondent cameras and is just so immersive. One must really try out the
demo to appreciate this.
2. Weapon Ballistics. They have improved this by a huge amount. It is
especially noticeable at night with a large caliber machine gun. One can now
see tracer that actually looks like real tracer. The ballistic arcs look
perfect and sometimes you can see it deflecting off materials that it hits.
Also speaking of night fighting, one now gets partially blinded for a
fraction of a second after firing a shot at night, just like the real thing.
You can even see opposing troop muzzle flashes and direct fire their way.
3. The graphics. Before I bought the game, the screenshots looked very
similar to ARMA 1, or so I thought. Once in however, one realizes that
ARMA2's graphics are in a totally different league. The realism is
outstanding and sometimes I have to stop myself and ask if I'm playing a
game. Up close the graphics remind me of COD4 but better, when looking into
the distance, like the lazer spotting one does in the first mission it is
simply staggering. Also rather amazingly, the game runs smoother than ARMA 1
on my rig - admittedly a powerful Apple Mac Pro.
4. Enemy AI. The enemy AI is dumbed down compared to ARMA (as of 1.2) at the
normal level of play. Despite this the enemy AI is still challenging.
5. Campaign Game. Unlike ARMA, ARMA 2 supports a very good campaign. BIS
studios managed to cram a lot more into the campaign engine and many of the
missions are deep, with many decisions to be made. The story line is very
good. So far I'd rate the campaign as the best they have done - it makes the
rather poor effort in ARMA look very pale.
ARMA 2 does have its problems. Most of which are dodgy triggers in some of
the missions, but given what is on offer I can live with it.
For me ARMA2 is the first game where I really do feel like an infantry man.
It does this so well that when I try to play other games of the genre I
cannot get into them because I feel like some guy running around on roller
skates.
I bought ARMA 2 thinking it was a minor upgrade to ARMA, what I got was a
much improved game in just about every department. For me it is currently
game of the year, though it would be interesting to see what codemasters do
with the Flashpoint franchise.
John Lewis
wrote:
well its up to 2 patches now :-):-)
V1.02
and the updated version of 1.02...... :-)
John Lewis
known12
the bottom of the screen.
Jed Clampett
> I remember a mod that would project a big arrow at a spot where the enemy AI
> thought you were. Having someone up on a hill side behind rocks hidden from
> the enemy below and then have that soldier take a single shot at the enemy.
> The arrow appears straight on top of where you are! The AI did not have just a
> vague idea of where you were it knew exactly. That showed it up quite nicely
> for what it was.
Yea, that mission in ArmA where you have to sneek into the camp under
darkness is a complete fail because the AI spots you in complete
darkness even. I was under the impression that ArmA2 was to be a new
game using new code and it is not at all. Same game as ARMa with same
issues.
Jed Clampett
> I bought ARMA 2 thinking it was a minor upgrade to ARMA, what I got was
> a much improved game in just about every department. For me it is
> currently game of the year, though it would be interesting to see what
> codemasters do with the Flashpoint franchise.
There is a thread at HardOCP gaming forum asking what is worst game of
the year so far and more than one person picked ArmA2. I guess I will
have to just go download the 2.8GB demo to find out if it really is good
or not because I can't find a straight answer from people's opinions.
Some like it and some hate it.
RP
news:00864654$0$15809$c3e...@news.astraweb.com...
Its the only way. Everyone has different expectations and unless you try it
yourself you won't know whether you like it or not. At least Bis have
provided a demo.
I'm well into the campaign and love its open ended missions. They really
give you a choice as to how you are going to do things.
If I hadn't of bought it I would have downloaded the demo as an overnight
download so that it was ready to play the following morning.
Will be interesting to see what you're thoughts on it are.
Alfie [UK]
I really try to like BIS, OpFlash gave me many hours of fun in
multiplayer (never played Resistance MP, but at least the SP campaign
worked, mostly), but they just cannot ever seem to get the AI right in
SP, or issue a patch without breaking something else, usually killing
the SP campaign in favour of MP tweaks.
I tried to like ArmA but it felt like going back to the early days of
OpFlash with broken missions, elite sharpshooter AI, and dumb
friendlies. Buying a game then beta-testing it for a year or so until
they finally come up with a working patch stops being fun after a
while :(
If they say they started again with ArmA 2 I'd expect more of the
same, all over again, it's still mostly the same coding team, and they
don't seem to have learnt with each incarnation so far.
--
Alfie [UK]
<http://www.delphia.co.uk/>
Once again, villainy is rotting meat before the maggots of justice!
Scatter
better. For all it's faults I love(d) ArmA, it's just that after a
couple of years or so it gets a bit 'samey'. Also, the online
community dwindles and that's where I mostly played.
I'm happy to get ArmA2 because it's introduces new areas/etc. and
there'll be lots of people online playing it. I personally do not like
the new art style (overly desaturated) but I'll cope. BIS are also
quite good at continually improving the game (not just fixing bugs)
through patching, after all they released a beta patch for ArmA just
before the release of ArmA2.
It's a pity they don't seem to have fixed vehicle pathfinding and
let's hope that they eventually get it right.
John Lewis
<j...@beverlyhills.invalid> wrote:
>Memnoch wrote:
>
>> I remember a mod that would project a big arrow at a spot where the enemy AI
>> thought you were. Having someone up on a hill side behind rocks hidden from
>> the enemy below and then have that soldier take a single shot at the enemy.
>> The arrow appears straight on top of where you are! The AI did not have just a
>> vague idea of where you were it knew exactly. That showed it up quite nicely
>> for what it was.
>
>Yea, that mission in ArmA where you have to sneek into the camp under
>darkness is a complete fail because the AI spots you in complete
>darkness even.
Actually not. At least with Arma Gold patched to V1.14. Yes, you do
have to be careful about choosing shadows and not being spotted, and
there is at least one sentry that must be quietly removed early in the
sequence without raising the alarm. Quite nerve-jangling and
palm-sweaty realistic...
John Lewis