Campaign Episode 2: ADAPT - Feedback thread ** SPOILER WARNING! **

[Smurf 12]

Little late and I not even finished it yet but I like it so far. I just think that the "Patrol Missions" (took a time to found out how to "activate" them) could be a lot more explored adding a squad (unique skills, perma death for them so maybe you can relate to these guys?) and equip selection a la H&D:

The HUB idea is also cool but IMO these markers would be useful:

All in all.... I have to buy a new PC to really enjoy this.

[Alwarren 2765]

Alright, I am currently stuck in what appears to be the final mission of the campaign, so here's my impressions so far. Obviously, spoilers ahead.

The gist of it - I liked it MUCH better than the first episode. The missions are significantly longer and make more sense, and are generally more enjoyable than Part 1. I seriously wish the first episode's "hand-holding" phase would have ended earlier and had gotten something of this episode. While still using the hub-based structure of the first part which makes individual missions a bit too isolated IMO, there is definitely more going on in this one. Do I look forward to Episode 3? Yes I do. Did I enjoy playing this episode? Yes, I did - mostly. See below.

I particularly liked the mission that involved satchel charges and a helicopter. Very creative way to deal with a chopper :) Overall, a well done, enjoyable and somewhat dramatic episode. The mission on Stratis was pretty intense, and on some occasions I couldn't believe I made it out of a situation alive. So, at least 8 out of 10 points for this.

The "mostly" part does come from two things (one of which might be dev-branch related):

- Arma 3's control is still horrendous. I am looking at you, ACTION MENU. Please, kill it. Get rid of it. Trying to get an AI to pick up a rifle under fire is a mess. Using the action menu under stress conditions is horrible. If Accessibility is anything but a focus on Arma 3, you HAVE to get rid of it. I will probably have to restart the last mission just because of the shortcomings of the interface and how it cost me AI lives.

- The AI's inability to follow orders or keep up. Part of the campaign (at least how I played it, YMMV) is about speed. Get in, strike, retreat. However, 'retreat' is something that the AI simply can't do. There is no "force disengage", and if you are trying to get somewhere under mortar fire, they insist on their bounding overwatch even though someone just landed a mortar shell in one of their teammates backpacks. My AI mates were, as a rule, 200 meters behind me, completely unreliable since they were never around to join the bloody fight, so I ended up doing most of the shooting by myself. If you insist on the player having to micro-manage the AI, then at least they should execute those orders.

Bonus points for the patrols. Concerning those, I liked the way you had purpose now instead of just going out and shoot some guys. However, I find it a bit unrealistic that Kerry should go there alone. What would have been nice would be to be able to walk up to one of the random dudes in the camp and ask them to come along. Just one, so not to overload the purpose of these missions, but it would make a bit more sense to have someone along to cover your back.

Looking forward to Win.

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Bonus points for the patrols. Concerning those, I liked the way you had purpose now instead of just going out and shoot some guys. However, I find it a bit unrealistic that Kerry should go there alone. What would have been nice would be to be able to walk up to one of the random dudes in the camp and ask them to come along. Just one, so not to overload the purpose of these missions, but it would make a bit more sense to have someone along to cover your back.

Agreed, and in addition, a vehicle to take on these side tasks would be nice to pad out the weapon/ammo pool.

[-=seany=- 5]

Finished the second part. It was better than the first part. The side missions were confusing, I didn't really understand how to activate them. Reading through previous posts here, it seems I just did the main missions.

Other major Arma 3 problems the campaign Highlighted were:

#1: Terrible sound immersion. The sound samples in Arma3 are good, but they are let down massively by the horrible sound engine that was even better in Arma2. 3d positioning of sound/ distant sounds/ sound effects cutting out when you move only a small distance from them (burning vehicles)/ etc /etc. This area badly needs some work. It's not majorly critical to game play (although it is important to know what direction a threat is coming from), but sound is massively important to immersion and over all polish.

#2: It's a pain to rearm you squad mates. There has to be a better way to interact with your Ai to get them to take ammo and weapons from certain locations/dead soliders. At the moment it's an exercise in frustration.

#3: Fatigue SFX: With Arma3 I keep noticing that I am changing to 3rd person view, not for a wider view or different perspective..but to get the damn out-of-breath Fatigue wheezing and panting out of my ear. It's extremely annoying. I don't think I could play with 3rd person disabled, it is that annoying. When it comes down to a choice between potentiality irritating realism mechanic and game-play...always choose game play. No one wants to be irritated for the sake of simulating realism..some things just can't be simulated in a game. 1:1 levels of your own real life fatigue is one such example. E.G. I don't take a break and slow down in real life because my breath is too loud and annoying me in my ear. The out of breath samples need to be toned down or made to not come into effect until you a very, very exhausted...Like 95-100% of whatever the BIS fatigue scale is. Or, give us a volume slider for the out of breath sound.

#4: You didn't really drive that much..but vehicle physics need a lot more work. I was really looking forward to PhysX, but Both wheeled and tracked vehicles still feel worse than Arma2. I know there must be massive potential here with Physx..and right now it feels like who ever is in charge of that area doesn't really know how to set the vehicles/parameters up and we are only seeing about 10% of the vehicles PhysX potential. I am convinced we can end up with tracked and wheeled vehicles that far surpass the previous physics we have had, but at the moment we feel very far away from this.

Any way, I had fun playing the campaign. So thanks BIS and I look forward to the next instalment.

Edited February 10, 2014 by -=seany=-

[daze23 1]

Agreed, and in addition, a vehicle to take on these side tasks would be nice to pad out the weapon/ammo pool.

if you leave camp via the road, they placed vehicles for you to use

[Polygon 11]

#3: Fatigue SFX: With Arma3 I keep noticing that I am changing to 3rd person view, not for a wider view or different perspective..but to get the damn out-of-breath Fatigue wheezing and panting out of my ear. It's extremely annoying. I don't think I could play with 3rd person disabled, it is that annoying. When it comes down to a choice between potentiality irritating realism mechanic and game-play...always choose game play. No one wants to be irritated for the sake of simulating realism..some things just can't be simulated in a game. 1:1 levels of your own real life fatigue is one such example. E.G. I don't take a break and slow down in real life because my breath is too loud and annoying me in my ear. The out of breath samples need to be toned down or made to not come into effect until you a very, very exhausted...Like 95-100% of whatever the BIS fatigue scale is. Or, give us a volume slider for the out of breath sound.

This. Fatigue SFX is fuckin' terrible and annoying. Kerry reminds me of an old granny mistakenly absorbed into a conflict.

[CameronMcDonald 146]

if you leave camp via the road, they placed vehicles for you to use

Ah, that'll teach me to not look further afield.

[b0s 18]

The briefing in Gory after Exit Strategy gets stuck... black bars stay after briefing and I cant move. Build 1.11.115252 and no addons.

The Adapt campaign itself is action wise the best I have experienced in OFP and Arma series. Story is still lacking a lot and cannot be compared to Resistance campaign. Hope the next episode brings more story and civilian life involvment without loosing momentum.

[NoPOW 59]

The briefing in Gory after Exit Strategy gets stuck... black bars stay after briefing and I cant move.

Experiencing the same behavior, today's dev-build.

[slynchy 0]

Getting stuck in the armory before the Beyond Recognition mission. Again, black bars, unable to move/skip

[DancZer 65]

Wrong thread. Sry

Edited February 21, 2014 by danczer

[doveman 7]

I found the start of Mission 3 - Bomos, rather tedious. It went something like:

Walk and chat with some guy for a bit

Stand around a table listening to some guy

Walk over to another guy just to select "Go to Briefing"

Appear in a hut and select weapons

Walk back to table and listen to the guy some more

Walk to the Assembly point

I think I've got those in the right order but I can't be bothered to run through all that again just to check.

I think it would have much less annoying if it went like this:

Start at table listening to the guy explaining the situation and giving the briefing all in one go (if restarting the mission, players should be able to skip this step).

Go to hut and select weapons.

Walk to Assembly point.

I'm all for setting the scene but don't drag it out and make me walk places for no good reason please.

[five_seven5-7 56]

Is the support in "Bingo Fuel" from Kappa Team broken?

They don't help us clearing the construction site

[2nd ranger 282]

You have to go get them, they join your team.

[five_seven5-7 56]

You have to go get them, they join your team.

i have approach them, but they don't join, just stays circling around the village, giving orders to each other.

[Tonci87 163]

They are not supposed to join your team. They should attack the construction site once you give them the radio command

[2nd ranger 282]

Oh sorry, I was thinking of the teams at the start of the mission.

[pauliesss 2]

I have a problem on the beginning of "Near Gori" mission and I cannot continue with the mission because of this bug:

Once Stavrov explain that he wants to attack some FOB, I am stuck at the "cut scene" screen and cannot move or do anything.

I think I am not the only one: http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=17370 and http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=17326

Edited February 23, 2014 by Pauliesss

[lugiahua 26]

I have a problem on the beginning of "Near Gori" mission and I cannot continue with the mission because of this bug:

Once Stavrov explain that he wants to attack some FOB, I am stuck at the "cut scene" screen and cannot move or do anything.

I think I am not the only one: http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=17370 and http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=17326

It's a glitch in new version, you have to wait 5 minutes till briefing screen.

[daze23 1]

with the current dev build, I encountered an invincible AI unit at the "Immobilized Armor" north of Kore. he's standing in the road behind the ammo(?) truck. I killed everyone but him, and it actually completed the task, so it seems there is something 'bugged' with that unit. he didn't seem to react to bullets or die, even when I blew up the truck next to him, but he sure could kill me :/

[barakokula31 10]

Just finished it today, and the only thing I can say is...I HATE cliffhangers!

[Flaky 10]

Just finished Adapt, may I say well done to the dev team as it was very impressive from a technical standpoint. But this is not the gratuitous congratulation thread so commence the constructive criticism.

Damn, you guys really need to focus more on the story. I make this point about pretty much every game, but when you are trying to tell a story interesting and consistent writing is critical. I know it is kind of secondary to the technical achievement of actually making the campaign work, but I think BI has a greater responsibility to get the script right than something like Battlefield or COD. I would give the writing here 5 out of 10, passably does the job of conveying a general sense of what is going on, but with very little detail or nuance, preferring to rely on shallow caricatures and hyperbole for impact. It seems like it is trying to be a B grade action movie, rather than taking a more documentary tone. I think the more serious Arma becomes technically, the more the writing will become a stumbing block if it continues as it is. I think the writing for Survive was clear and crisp, basically because the plot and action was more focussed and perhaps limited in scope. Reflecting back on Adapt, I had the constant sense that what was taking place was far less significant than the dialogue made out. Everything about saving supplies or fuel or conserving our strength or making a stand rings hollow when the campaign does not permit the gravity of the situation to be represented. There should be less focus on trying to impress on the player the seriousness of their situation at all times, after a while it just gets repetitive or worse simply confusing. A little subtlety in the dialogue would go a long way, avoiding the obvious stereotypes and being realistic about how important inter-character drama is to telling the story. I mean how interesting are these guys likely to be? Bad-one liners and constant 'witty' retorts are a poor substitute for character development, but Kerry says basically nothing else the whole time.

Plot holes come quick and fast. Why are the rebels not spotted when shifting their base of operations, something they seem to do on a daily basis? There does not seem to be any civilian population to help them in their guerrilla effort or disguise their movements. Must be because the AAF instantly ethnically cleansed their own population for no reason? Genocide is usually a pretty serious matter, one that BI has dealt with in other games with I thought more tact than is apparent here. Civil war and partisan violence seem to be perennial favourite themes, so it needs to be explained more thoughtfully given the essentially made-up context this time. Maybe the Altian despot has used chemical weapons on his own population to stifle dissent? Maybe the economy is devastated by corruption? Maybe the island was always ethnically diverse but never stable due to being under the heel of a powerful neighbour? Why are the protagonists willing to simply abandon previously key objectives at the drop of a hat? Clearly because there is no apparent consequence. Why did Kerry simply abandon the intel in Beyond Recognition? Why was the factory important in Common enemyWhat motivated the AAF officer to defect, and why was revenge necessary in the first place? How come the guerillas get on so well with the army that likely ethnically cleansed their families? Is Nikos really so interesting that he deserves a reappearance? If so, don't just take it for granted, actually make him interesting for some reason. Simply piling chaos upon chaos in the hope that the plot will emerge in spite of the confusion surrounding it is hardly a sound strategy. Altis does not seem to have any critical infrastructure of any major importance; a deep water port or something intrinsically valuable to either faction to actually fight over. Why settle for the airport? Such targets would be the first thing to be secured by an invader, not the result of a long insurgency. Why is it more important than any other? I still have no real idea what is happening in the campaign or why. Each mission is a blur of hackneyed one-liners, red herrings and plot twists that one is left practically begging for a breather.

There are moments when the engine itself is left to tell the story, such as when the lights are turned out in Beyond Recognition, or when night falls over the course of Survive. For me the game is at it's best when the focus is on the decision making of the player rather than clunky exposition. What happened to High-Command? What happened to squad command even? The squads only purpose seems to be to tote around AT weapons so Kerry doesn't have to. I think if the Arma series wants to present itself as a serious simulation, then more care will be required to present a level of verisimilitude and accuracy in the narrative of the conflict. Why does everything have to happen seemingly within a 24 hour period, rather than as a drawn out campaign? Insurgencies are rarely cut and dried affairs. This point is not dissimilar to the broader points about the duty to realism with eg. the medical system etc. I think BI is capable of writing involved stories, there is no shortage of real life inspiration. Overall, a nagging inconsistency still tends to magnify the limitations of the engine rather than smooth them over.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Flaky

[enex 11]

I'm looking for cheats to unlock arma 3 adapt campaign.The very first pages link is not working.

Can anyone tell me how to unlock it?Thanks.

---------- Post added at 16:16 ---------- Previous post was at 15:06 ----------

Cheat "campaign" in campaign menu.

https://wiki.bisimulations.com/wiki/ArmA:_Cheats

Not Found

The requested URL /wiki/ArmA:_Cheats was not found on this server.

[barakokula31 10]

...stuff...

Try this.

[enex 11]

Try this.

Much obligated