Share your first Arma3 Beta Impressions (all first impression type posts here pls)

[chortles 263]

Re: the AI -- according to this ticket and

, the AI isn't quite wallhacking, buuuuut...

There's discussion of this going over in this thread, but

's a video where someone saw a somewhat different result.

Food for thought: I don't know if you've ever played Splinter Cell: Conviction, but its "Last Known Position" game mechanic was that wherever the enemy AI last saw you, an "afterimage" would appear in the 3D world; as long as the AI didn't see you change positions, the AI would suppress the position from where you broke line-of-sight and close in on it, then once a guard got close enough to see that you were no longer there the "afterimage" would disappear to visually represent the AI's recognition of this... the thing is, the only part about the LKP mechanic that's "game-y" unrealistic is the 3D world "afterimage", otherwise the AI was behaving more akin to what it sounds like should be happening in Arma 3.

As far as the Hunters, what exactly are you trying to attack them with, weapons-wise, and are you noticing the same issue with the same weapons when used against the Ifrits?

In general I get your point about the lack of NV optics and hand-throwable/holdable flares or glow sticks, but there are also the flashlights... though I recognize how much they make you a target at night.

Edited May 14, 2013 by Chortles

[OneZeoN 10]

Having only really experienced Arma2 via the tutorials and DayZ, I'm pretty new to the series. I have to say that I absolutely love the direction Arma3 is going. It is much more approachable compared to Arma2 (I tried playing some solo coop missions in OA and was completely lost).

I'm probably spent most of my time playing Ahoy World coop and really enjoying the experience.

The Good:

- The in-game UI and Menu systems don't look like they're from 2005 anymore. They look fantastic

- Overall graphics, textures and the world environment are visually stunning.

- Player movement is fluid and realistic

- The built-in voice does the job well. Still don't understand why most FPS leave this as an afterthought

The Bad:

- Enemy AI feels like it's cheating more than it should be.

- Lack of night vision scopes, flare guns (apart from GL), throwable/holdable flares and holdable glowsticks makes night missions impossible. By the time you get close enough to use red dot sight, the moment you open fire you're pretty screwed. The option to engage from range disappears

- The compass is too big to leave up all the time

- Enemy movement can appear jerky, though I suspect that's more to do with lag

- The armoured vehicles (hunters) almost feel too armoured

- The performance on my Nvidia GTX 680 (i7 CPU, 16GB RAM, SSD) is pretty poor. It autodetected my specs and put everything to Ultra. I had to customise everything to a mix of reduced draw distance, and standard and high settings to get a stable 20-35 FPS

- Some areas (Agia Marina for example), while moving around in first person with sights up, my FPS drops down to 10-15. Incredibly laggy... feels like it's the first person + sights more than just the buildings

I feel there's incredible potential in the engine. If I had to say my two main issues - enemy AI and performance.

What's your other specs out of interest?

[cabowabo4000 1]

my first impression before i got the game was: Holy Shit, Dat Graphics!

My impression of the game now is: HOly Shit Dis game is awesome!

[Zane 1]

I'm only 1 hour in the game but so far I like what I see. Nothing really stands out in a negative way to me.

I'll continue testing!

[rallyolle 10]

My first imperssion and feelings, cool much smoother movment than ArmA2. gfx.. look good in some regard but a patch of lowres ruins it, could be a weird looking bush LOD not loaded or similar, some things look good but the whole picture doesnt fit well together at all times and its enough to ruin it. Also feels like it runs really poor relative to what it looks like, low and unstable FPS. To me it FEELS like unoptimized game that i've put aside to see if things improve, hopes are low though, ArmA 2 is a problematic game aswell and it's the same devs and same engine in the core.

I'm aware it's alpha and this is impressions of the ALPHA game in it's current state, just wanna give a +1 to *feels like game runs like shit crowd* because where's the point or feedback in "it's alpha don't worry"

As a costumer and player I expect the finished product to *just work* and run good relative to my system and game settings... up to devs to prove that it's alpha prolems by action, fixing it, not forum arguments.

i7 460gtx sli 8gb ddr3million

also the future equipment bore me and the physics are dissapointing so far. Potential lurking around, will try beta.

I like the inventroy system lol

[sproyd 2]

Just want to give the low performance guys a tip - try enabling the dev build and see how your performance looks then. The dev build for a lot of people is running much smoother at the moment than the stable build. Its an indicator of things to come.

[chrisb 196]

Just want to give the low performance guys a tip - try enabling the dev build and see how your performance looks then. The dev build for a lot of people is running much smoother at the moment than the stable build. Its an indicator of things to come.

Very true..

[Saliiim 10]

I absolutely love it.

But, there are two things that have sourly disappointed me.

1. The Physics isn't really that good and that was what I was most excited about, however it is an amazing improvement over ARMA 2.

2. The guns still sound like airsoft rifles and not real weapons, a gun going off is after all just a controlled explosion next to your ear-hole, why doesn't it sound as such (I'm talking Bad Company 2 Submarine hangar, that is how the guns should sound. If you haven't played BC2, just search for the submarine hangar level)?

Oh course, there are the brilliant bits.

Amazing visuals. I have an ATI radeon 6490m with only 256mb of VRAM, and it runs smoothly (unless I'm in a forest) and still looks gorgeous on low settings.

Sooo smoooooooth. Many people have said it's too FPS like, bollocks, in reality I can spin 180 degrees and point at something very quickly (after all, pointing is naturally intuitive for us), this is bringing ARMA closer to reality, and moreover, making it more enjoyable.

As underwhelming as it is, the physics does remove almost all the frustration from the game.

Modular shiz. I never knew I wanted this until now.

I know this isn't very 'Serious mil-simmer' like of me, but I would love to do jumps and fun stuff on the quadbikes, I've tried jumping one over a helicopter and I just couldn't manage it. I think quadbikes to feel a bit lighter, I've driven quadbikes, and they're powerful concidering how light they are, they just don't feel like it in game.

I love ARMA 3, It's ARMA 2 (my favourite game of all time), but improved.

[Leg 10]

I agree with the comment ontop, but I think Arma3 is just lacking content at the moment, seeing as it is released in alpha stages. I too would like to see improved sounds, which is something that even Arma2 vanilla somewhat lacked (look at JSRS mod compared to normal Arma2 sounds, which was a huge improvement). I think all the real mil-sim people have been staying in Arma2 just because Arma3 is so incomplete and different at the moment, and Arma2 with traditional mods like ACE2 is still so much better. Albeit, running Arma2 content on Arma3's engine is amazing and a good example of what Arma3 is lacking at the moment.

Example:

Arma2 content on Arma3 looks amazing; but Arma3 alpha quickly gets old without extreme mods because it's the same low amount of weapons, vehicles, same island, and linear coop missions.

[xyberviri 1]

This thread is nice and all, however did everyone that had something bad to say make sure to also make sure to post on the http://feedback.arma3.com tracker?

I would hate for all this good information to just be wasted on a forum post when there is a method setup to gather information about the "bad" and "ugly"

I dont have anything else to add because everything i would have said has already been.

[schlonz75 1]

Hi all,

being a not so experienced ARMA-user so far, I nevertheless would like to share my first impressions as well.

The good:

When I first tested the alpha lite I still had my old GPU (3 years old, then mediocre) and even with that it's possible to run the game smoothly, of course on a lower but still pretty detail level. However, I decided to get a new graphics card and see how it would look like on that. Yesterday I finally got it, installed it and I was stunned. Yet not a top class GPU (7850 HD, 1GB) I was overwhelmed at first sight. I let the autodetect feature decide what setting would be nice and almost everywhere got offered the highest detail setting. After a bit tweaking here and there i have a found decent setting which gives me an average of about 25-30 frames even with a quite big crowd moving near the sea or in the forest.

For me it really is a big leap in the graphics quality compared to ARMA 2 OA (I have to take a look at it with my new GPU though ;))

Animations mainly look nicer now, although there is still some improvement possible i think. But that's kind of refinement.

The new weapons: well, they seem(!) plausible to me, they look precisely modeled and animated.

I had the well-known look-and-feel from the previous ARMA title just with enhanced graphics and aminations.

The bad:

As many of you before already stated, the sound (still) seem to be a bit tame. I often feel like firing shots with earplugs in. One said something like this"... shots taken are nothing less than small explosions only inches away from your ear, let it sound like this!". Couldn't find better words ;)

I am missing the possibility to climb or jump (no bunny-hops!) over obstacles. For example I cannot get on a large sand bag, to get in a higher position to either have an overview over some area or to have a good position for a well aimed shot. Also a change of weapons while on the move would be fine, too.

The other flaws I could mention by now are due to the alpha state and I'm hopeful to see them getting fixed with the beta or latest with the full game.

Have a nice day,

Jens

[McSenna 1]

Only had it just over a day....

So far the Good;

Graphics/Lighting - great step up from Arma 2 and the filters applied when underwater or looking through a lens, be it a scope or bino's are nice touches.

Voice acting - although theres not a massive variety so far its another very big step up from Arma 2. No more feeling like it was one of the Dev's friends/dads/cousin twice removed doing the voice acting to their obvious embarrassment!

New stances etc - Great additions and now very cool to lean your weapon on a rock and blaze away on auto with minimal recoil :D although is this a First Person only thing? Doesn't seem to lean on anything when in 3rd person view?

The Bad (some of this may just be down to it being in Alpha);

Vehicles still handle like they are being driven on the moon - clip a rock on you are launched into orbit!

AI - enemies can see me and shoot me from ridiculous distances and sometimes through stuff. Same can be said of friendly - calling out 'contact! Man 400 metres' when they are the other side of a hill/forest!

Will happily keep plugging away with the editor and user downloaded missions. :)

[USAdystopia 10]

Have read through the first impressions posts and am astounded! Most everyone raving on how great the quality of this game. My first impression is that this game is very disappointing. Understanding that the game is expected (hopefully) to be much improved when released the missions, graphics quality, textures, lighting, animations and poor sound quality seem very dated for the technology of 2013! The breathing sounds are good when sprinting or wounded, however.

Have paid my money and am hoping to eat my words.

[Anachoretes 10]

USAdystopia So, what is 2013 technology for rendering at least 4 miles simulations around? I hope someone make BF series for you. With expected amount of 2013 "pew-pew" and "bam-bam".

[dale0404 5]

Have read through the first impressions posts and am astounded! Most everyone raving on how great the quality of this game. My first impression is that this game is very disappointing. Understanding that the game is expected (hopefully) to be much improved when released the missions, graphics quality, textures, lighting, animations and poor sound quality seem very dated for the technology of 2013! The breathing sounds are good when sprinting or wounded, however.

Have paid my money and am hoping to eat my words.

Sorry buddy, you need glasses and a hearing aid I think!

[Sharks80 10]

Have read through the first impressions posts and am astounded! Most everyone raving on how great the quality of this game. My first impression is that this game is very disappointing. Understanding that the game is expected (hopefully) to be much improved when released the missions, graphics quality, textures, lighting, animations and poor sound quality seem very dated for the technology of 2013! The breathing sounds are good when sprinting or wounded, however.

Have paid my money and am hoping to eat my words.

I don't know what you're talking about, don't think you're playing Arma 3 ... the game is really good graphics and textures are nice (not talking about the midrange texture).

Sounds are also great it's the first time i play a game and when i'm shooting i'm like "omg that's powerful" ( sniper rifle / rpg ? ) T_T usually in others FPS, guns are a bit louder than voices ...

Ambiance sound is also great, when someone is shooting on a valley/mountain you can't really say where he is because of the echo, not talking about bugs / birds / wind who make the map more realistic

Even the sky is looking good, usually the sky is just a basic blue and here i don't know how to explain but it looks like in real life ...

The only thing that irritate me is like i said earlier the midrange texture, i really hope they'll change it ! I know modders have already done an amazing mods to fix it but it doesn't work in a lot of server :/

and also some animation like climbing a ladder or when you're going over a fence or stuff like that which are not perfect.

Don't forget it's just an Alpha so they will be probably a lot of update to make the game better

When you'll find a game like this one with so many weapons / vehicles ( in the future .. ;) / modded servers and for only 25$/€ just call me

I'm tired of all these unrealistic 60$ FPS with 150 Dlcs where you have to shoot 50 times an ennemy so he dies / 360 no scope with a barret someone ?

This game is the best :D

Edited June 14, 2013 by Sharks80

[USAdystopia 10]

You guys are real "cute" with your attacks and "opinions" on what my FIRST IMPRESSIONS are. Your trolling does not change the fact that so far the sound, textures, game play and graphics are inferior to almost any major title of the last few years. As an experienced game tester your criticism of me doesn't change the reality of knowing a great game WHEN I see one!

[Snorre44 10]

I started with Operation Flashpoint when it came out, played it every day for quite a long time, left out Arma, bought Arma 2 and havent warmed to it because of the controlls and some other problems. I ve readed quite a bit about Arma 3 and decided to jump in. I did the showcases (well, havent mastered all yet :) ) and was pretty impressed. The controlls are very responsive and it feels good. As a flight sim enthuisiast I use TrackIR, rudder pedals and a joystick. Got it all working without problems.

Well, the helicopters are somehow weired in my opinion. The accelerate way too fast, climbing is most of the time too low. Also the HUD should stay at the front (or a crosshair). When turning my head the cross hair moves also and I cant aim with the rockets or the gatling.

Vehicle driving feels okay to me.

Infantry stuff has convinced me directly. The movement feels realistic.

Grapics are awesome. I dont have a high end rig but it looks good and performs very well. Sound is also quite good.

So the overall first impression is very good :)

[bigfatrhys 10]

Arma 3 is greattt few bugs in the menu, like the mouse not working but generally quite fun :)

[BuffetSlayer 10]

Hi all

I had the original Operation Flashpoint on PC many moons ago and found it to be rewarding but awful at the same time! So many bugs and issues that I limped through so far until a game breaking bug just caused me to give up.

Fast forward to 2013 and I have just installed A3A and have so far completed the first 3 showcase missions.

My first overall impression is I have enjoyed myself. I class myself as being completely new to modern Arma games, and I am just getting to grips with the interface and controls. I have not even looked in the control menu yet, and I am using default controls.

So - my observations so far.......

Its a nice looking game. It auto detects my rig and has set the overall graphics quality to very high, although I think I am going to dial that down a notch or two as it has felt a bit laggy in some places.

Showcase missions have been ok so far, but quite buggy. I also found the infantry mission to be a little too short but also a little confusing. My team were spotting enemies before they were rendered on my screen - and two enemies appeared as red squares running up a slope but no enemies could be seen! Then the red squares just disappeared! It is alpha though, so the bugs can be forgiven.

The scuba mission was the one that highlighted the most flaws to me. Disarming mines is almost 'instant' - no time delay/penalty whilst you work to do it, and no character animations to show you using tools or anything. The same with sabotaging the boat. I also couldn't kill the boat driver and front gunner until after I had collected the AA RPG from the beach. Luckily I managed to get back into the water and dive without the boat killing me but it took a few attempts. At which point I could shoot the remaining 2 personnel in the boat, whereas before they were invincible. Soldier AI was ridiculous. One decided to go for a swim, and was just floating about in the bay and I could approach him and swim around him and he just looked at me (??). The soldiers at the small fortification on the beach where the AA RPG is found saw me and started shooting at me so I hid behind the vehicle. They then decided to run off. No flanking manoeuvres, no attempt at pinning me down. Nothing. I was expecting to be shelled but happily sat behind the truck for a good while whilst I messed around with my loadout and inventory. Then the boat in the bay I had forgotten all about killed me. Doh!

I am only playing on normal difficulty though, so perhaps that is why. I am also finding that the aim of AI is very hit and miss. Literally. Sometimes they cant hit a barn door, others they are very good. Also - I am noticing a distinct lack of visual hit report, and enemy animations when they are being shot at. I have shot an enemy 3 times with a rifle and their movement/body has not been visibly effected by the impact of the rounds, then they just drop dead in a kind of clunky unrealistic way. Other times I have seen some blood marks where the rounds have hit, but again the enemy has not visibly made any sign they have been struck.

I am not a military expert, but I would imagine they would be wearing body armour so a through and through is probably not possible(??) on the torso. So I would imagine taking a rifle round in the chest would cause severe alarm and possibly have debilitating consequences. Likewise the force of the impact of a rifle round would surely knock them off balance or knock them flat all together (particulalry as the range I was shooting from was only about 60 metres)? Like I said - I am not a military expert, but logic suggests that a round travelling at nearly 3000 ft/s hitting someone wearing an armoured vest square in the chest is going to hurt and I suspect that they would not just stand there and return fire like nothing ever happened :butbut:

Here is an extract from Wikipedia:

I was hit in the back by a single shot. It must have been from about 200–300 metres away. The round knocked me down in an instant, it felt like being hit by a sledge-hammer at full swing. I slammed into the dirt face down. (...) I was in agony, I certainly couldn't walk on my own (...) I think it was a 7.62mm round. That's a high calibre bullet to be hit by, but it shows you that the body armour works. I wouldn't be sitting here now telling you this story, if I wasn't wearing one. Thank you to whoever designed the body armour. If I ever meet them, I'd like to buy them a pint.

—Lance Sergeant Daniel Collins

So as a 'simulator' I have a few issues with it. Of course I do not expect it to be real life, but as the game seems to want to offer me a realistic experience I feel there are some glaring issues. One of which is the lack of (hornets nest about to be stirred) any kind of melee ability or interaction with surroundings. For example, last time I checked soldiers could easily clamber over low objects, or jump/dive for cover. I was also surprised that a well equipped scuba soldier was carrying a high tech rifle, but no knife? How would he cut ropes if he needed? Or defend against an attack should he find himself without a rifle? I suppose you could argue these are fairly moot points as real life simulator is probably not achievable, let alone be anything that many people would want to play. I do still really like what I have played so far :)

Vehicle handling feels very off, but having never driven an armoured vehicle I have no frame of reference other than to say I struggle to believe that armoured jeeps handle as badly as the one in the 3rd showcase mission. I'm not talking about taking racing lines around corners, but basic stuff like keeping the thing on a consistent path whilst moving!! :j: Vehicle collisions are also funny. I know it is only Alpha, but I would hope a lot more work is going to go into that element of the game.

Having 3rd person mode feels like cheating somehow, but that is just me. Taking cover then going 3rd person just totally nerfs CQC situations in my opinion and should not be allowed.

I am a little disappointed that there only appears to be 4 missions and I hope more single player content will become available soon. I hear the Beta is due to go live towards the end of this month so fingers crossed for some additional content.

Overall I think this game needs patience and more patience. It is most definitely not a game for the call of battlefield modern duty warfare 7 generation!! ;)

That said, I think it has huge potential, and as a new comer I really do hope that it is realised.

Cheers

Buff

[royaltyinexile 175]

My team were spotting enemies before they were rendered on my screen - and two enemies appeared as red squares running up a slope but no enemies could be seen! Then the red squares just disappeared! It is alpha though, so the bugs can be forgiven.

Actually, that's not a bug, per se. :) The red square indicates where your team leader 'thinks' the enemy is. If he sighted him, and then lost him behind concealment, the red square is just the 'vector' of the predicted direction. Sometimes the vector will go behind the terrain (so they're on the other side of the slope, for example, and other times they simply aren't there (the path is just a guess), which, I agree, can be a little confusing. We've looked at some ways of improving how this information is communicated to the player but, alas, no time yet to thoughtfully address it.

The scuba mission was the one that highlighted the most flaws to me. Disarming mines is almost 'instant' - no time delay/penalty whilst you work to do it, and no character animations to show you using tools or anything.

That's true. It's a hangover from our 'alpha' state, though. We had lots and lots of animations to create and this one was considered to be lower priority. I regret the state it's in and it's one of my personal bugbears. :)

So as a 'simulator' I have a few issues with it. Of course I do not expect it to be real life, but as the game seems to want to offer me a realistic experience I feel there are some glaring issues. [...] I suppose you could argue these are fairly moot points as real life simulator is probably not achievable, let alone be anything that many people would want to play. I do still really like what I have played so far :)

It's true that there are always more things we could - and some argue should - simulate. It come down to us having to pick some priorities. Sometimes we make mistakes in picking what to implement, but, In Arma, real close quarters combat isn't part of what I would describe as the 'core' of the experience. It's definitely 'missing' in that, as a player, you might feel restricted by not having the option you'd 'expect' to have in real life but, when it comes to allocating precious resources, melee/knives didn't 'make the cut'. :cool:

Having 3rd person mode feels like cheating somehow, but that is just me. Taking cover then going 3rd person just totally nerfs CQC situations in my opinion and should not be allowed.

On higher difficulties/ MP servers 3rd person is disabled. I'm fine with letting players configure the game how they prefer, and there are some valid arguments (and it's an old long argument to have) for why you'd want to have the option there.

Overall I think this game needs patience and more patience. ... That said, I think it has huge potential, and as a new comer I really do hope that it is realised.

It's good to read this, it's basically the response we'd hope to get from new players. Arma 3 isn't about making our series 'easier' or 'simpler', but about encouraging players to stick around and give us the chance to show that it can be satisfying to master!

Best,

RiE

[Tyl3r99 41]

its a (beeeeeeeeeep)'ing great game

[irfanahmed1979 10]

Runs smooth on my rig at ultra settings. Though the FPS is somewhere around 30 but I'm ok with that.

CPU: core 17-3770K, RAM: 16GB 1600MHZ Corsair Vengeance, GPU: Gigabyte GTX-680 SOC, OS: Win 8 pro 64-bit.

[chortles 263]

Actually, that's not a bug, per se. :) The red square indicates where your team leader 'thinks' the enemy is. If he sighted him, and then lost him behind concealment, the red square is just the 'vector' of the predicted direction. Sometimes the vector will go behind the terrain (so they're on the other side of the slope, for example, and other times they simply aren't there (the path is just a guess), which, I agree, can be a little confusing. We've looked at some ways of improving how this information is communicated to the player but, alas, no time yet to thoughtfully address it.

So that's what "the red square" is, huh? I'd say that one of the things that historically made Arma so unintuitive was that stuff like this wasn't explained, and I hope that one of the future revisions here is to either drop said visual marker altogether or preferably have some sort of cue that clearly explains what that's supposed to represent, i.e. maybe turning it into a big arrow labeled "Last Seen Here"? :lol:

Oddly enough, this explanation for the "red square" reminds me of Splinter Cell: Conviction's "Last Known Position" mechanic, albeit there it was different in that as opposed to enemies' "position from which they broke line of sight with the enemy" being shown to the player like you have here, it was the player's "position from which they broke line of sight with the enemy" that was shown to the player, even if that could be explained as merely a "video game" visual representation of the player character's own geo-spatial awareness.

this one was considered to be lower priority.

As odd as it looks, I'm actually kind of glad just to see this stated so that at least we can know what was going on here ("something had to give due to whatever reason, and I/we implicitly picked this").

It's true that there are always more things we could - and some argue should - simulate. It come down to us having to pick some priorities. Sometimes we make mistakes in picking what to implement, but, In Arma, real close quarters combat isn't part of what I would describe as the 'core' of the experience. It's definitely 'missing' in that, as a player, you might feel restricted by not having the option you'd 'expect' to have in real life but, when it comes to allocating precious resources, melee/knives didn't 'make the cut'. :cool:

See above: even if we don't like his choices, at least we see the basis on which they're made.

[Maio 293]

Well I haven't had time to play the Beta a lot so this can be considered a first impression.

The instant transition from and to the map is great and a life saver especially when dealing with concealed enemy firing positions.

The new sound tracks are also great. They work great with the silent radio protocol.

The new scenarios and challenges are also great :)