Disappointed after 13 years of 'Arma'

[dontknowhow 33]

Having a rabbit opening a vehicle inventory points to a good thing in my opinion.

You should really delete this line

[Wiki 1558]

I agree, I'm disappointed too.

[GReeves 10]

Yeah, there's a lot that I wish BiStudio was doing with this series but frankly they can't make everyone happy and I just appreciate them for trying (and succeeding) at giving us something different than the CoD/BF series. I was one of the guys who was disgusted with ARMA3 at its release but it's gotten a lot better and I can get a lot better (if you call 25-30 better :D) FPS after the last few patches. Keep up the good work guys!

[roshnak 41]

I think the games problem is that it has a heritage and history, and as such, none of us are really able to judge it on its own merits. Arma 1 and 2 pretty much only stood because of the concept and the heritage of being the "true successors" of Flashpoint. Arma 3 went out of its way to be something of its own, and what I was afraid of in the beginning actually seems to have happened or is happening right now: the alienation of some of the previously most loyal parts of the community.

You're really misreading the OP. This isn't a thread about how Arma 3 is too different from previous games, it's a thread about how Arma 3 isn't different enough.

While there have been a number of refinements and improvements under the hood, in a lot of ways the game doesn't feel all that improved from Operation Flashpoint, barring a few obvious exceptions (movement, aiming, the new inventory mechanics).

The OP is talking specifically about AI, and it's a really good example of something that, despite seeing a lot of changes under the hood, still behaves much the same as it always has. Sure, their aiming and detection has been tweaked a little, and they added really irritating bounding movement in combat in Arma 2, but it's still recognizably the AI from Operation Flashpoint.

Then there are the things like the ability to fire from cargo positions that players have been clamoring for since Arma 1 was announced. And the devs have been saying, "We'll try to get it in" in every single release. How could they have not figured out a way to do this in over a decade?

So yeah, the game is definitely getting better with each release, but not by leaps and bounds -- it's mostly just a few things that are improved with each new iteration of the game. Over the last decade, the area of the game that has seen the most consistent improvement is graphics, by a wide margin. And it's not like a new game is released every year or two; we're looking at three to four years between releases. I think some people are starting to ask themselves how many years they are willing to wait and how many new games they are willling to buy before their pet issue or feature gets its turn.

However, I maintain that the reactions are, by and large, overly negative and coloured.

I really think this is just because there isn't a lot to talk about if you like something, nor is it particularly productive. I mean, I love the changes to movement and aiming in Arma 3, but what else is there really to say but that? I know that it makes the devs feel good to have players say nice things about the game, but there isn't really much utility to it, whereas bringing up things we don't like might get those things changed and then we don't have to talk about them anymore because we will be playing the game.

You should really delete this line

Uh, no he shouldn't. Read the rest of the post.

[OrLoK 20]

Hello there

To combat my very upbeat recent comments about the franchise I do feel there were opportunities missed by A3 to bring in more game mechanics and it would be interesting to find out why these were passed over.

I wonder if it was financial or timescale driven or if it was a deliberate decision to keep the game as barebones (i mean that in the nicest way) deliberately to allow modding flexibility and not to push any future mods down an already marked path.

I do think many of the improvements are subtle and whilst not vastly "in your face" to help bring the game up to date.

Recent fixes like the weather sync are a really nice touch indeed.

Sorry, im being positive again.

Id also be fascinated to know what was left out and again why. For example opening doors on all vehicles. The anims are there if not complete so what stopped them getting in the final release?

I think my top 3 major bugbears with Arma3 is the inability to "rest" weapons, the ultra modern setting (models are great btw, but they just dont get me excited) and the super accurate(in comparison)/alert or daft AI.

There, I was mean to the devs.

Saying that all three of these are easily sorted by mods and im currently having a blast in WW2 long range sniping a very sneaky (but not too accurate) AI.

damn, all positive again...

Rgds

LoK

[j4you 10]

Hello there

To combat my very upbeat recent comments about the franchise I do feel there were opportunities missed by A3 to bring in more game mechanics and it would be interesting to find out why these were passed over.

I wonder if it was financial or timescale driven or if it was a deliberate decision to keep the game as barebones (i mean that in the nicest way) deliberately to allow modding flexibility and not to push any future mods down an already marked path.

I do think many of the improvements are subtle and whilst not vastly "in your face" to help bring the game up to date.

Recent fixes like the weather sync are a really nice touch indeed.

Sorry, im being positive again.

Id also be fascinated to know what was left out and again why. For example opening doors on all vehicles. The anims are there if not complete so what stopped them getting in the final release?

I think my top 3 major bugbears with Arma3 is the inability to "rest" weapons, the ultra modern setting (models are great btw, but they just dont get me excited) and the super accurate(in comparison)/alert or daft AI.

There, I was mean to the devs.

Saying that all three of these are easily sorted by mods and im currently having a blast in WW2 long range sniping a very sneaky (but not too accurate) AI.

damn, all positive again...

Rgds

LoK

Hi.

Frist think to say all the time...Sorry..im being positive again!... It's look like then you come in this Thread like The Bearer of Truth!...and instead we are talking about just some opinions and/or criticism,so...Sorry!...you dont win the medal even this time.

In addition we are not here to make anyone change their mind, because your opinion will always remain just your opinion ..... like the mine of course! :-)

And however I do not think anyone will say, after reading your post:

Damn! ... But he is right! ...as I did not figure it out by myself? Now i am enjoy whit ArmA III!

Anyway!

What you saied could be right if you are you referring to SP mode,in fact the mods can to be nice if you have not interest to play with other people,but the things change if you are in MP,too many variable find unless so many mods if the servers do not enable it!

In fact to think that adding a thousand mods can customize every taste for every player it's a half-truth.

There are so many things then BIS must to improve and fix, still , and even achieve and distribute it at reasonable times,for give the vanilla game playable at all..mostly for MP gamers!

You had espress well your opinion but you forgot to explored ArmA III at 360 °!

Damn! ..a missed opportunity..again!:rolleyes:

Regards

Edited March 17, 2014 by j4you

[tortuosit 485]

I must say I hate Arma pretty often. At the same time it's the game I play by far the most time. Obviously because I love Arma.

If they ever manage to make opening and closing of doors reliable, all is fine and no problem if the universe explodes then.

Edited March 16, 2014 by tortuosit

[Ypulse 10]

The only things that Arma 2 did differently regarding wounding are that there is no armor simulation in Arma 2 and Arma 2 also had a wounding module that made it so that units would be knocked unconscious instead of dying. It wasn't particularly advanced.

fire a bullet at leg in arma 2/arma 3 to see 1 difference

[dwaight 17]

fire a bullet at leg in arma 2/arma 3 to see 1 difference

20 Bullets in the knee..

[Gattobuono 10]

I totally agree with OP, very good post. Despite all the lovely graphics of Arma3 the AI has not improved at all since the original OFP. Really disappointed:(

Edited March 21, 2014 by Gattobuono

[xMenta 10]

well..

[bad benson 1733]

Despite all the lovely graphics of Arma3 the AI has not improved at all since the original OFP.

that's not true. i totally agree with the OP about long standing issues that jsut don't get fixed, which is infuriating. BUT. there's a difference between something not being really fixed since OFP and the AI being not improved overall since then. if you don't believe me, go play some OFP :p

[Scubbo 10]

I still find myself more interested in playing OFPR than the later armas --- something about the setting and even the graphics has more appeal, would love to see it with JIP support and I guess more fluid animations/ragdoll from a modern physics engine but yeah obvious I won't ever get anything like this from the later installments in the engine which is a shame but I guess you can't monetize patches (or atleast see the revenue straight away) so I understand why they keep selling DLCs over fixing issues in the already shipped base game

Edited March 21, 2014 by Scubbo

[Wiki 1558]

I would have liked a more epic campaign, something like a Hollywood blockbuster - but still realistic, like BlackHawk Down, or Act of Valor, if you see what I mean.

[metralla 19]

Personally I cheated at this game and I do not think that in the future they can improve it. Unfortunately this game has become a bad sequel to its earlier versions

[Gattobuono 10]

Just claiming that it is easy to find an AI "better" than Armas without putting forward any clear examples is rather cheap, don't you think?

Well you need to define 'better'. More complex is not necessarily better, and ai can fulfil different roles depending on the game-type, setting etc. Farcry 3 enemy AI is really good fun and challenging to play against, GRAW1 & 2 had very good AI that fulfilled their function and were easy to command, OFDR had good solid challenging AI that was really enhanced by a very intuitive UI, something sorely lacking in Arma.

So, in a nutshell, the AI should fulfil its function, it doesn't need to be complex. A strong intuitive UI coupled with reliable AI with a bit of character thrown in would make Arma 3 100% a better game for offline players such as myself. As it is, I'm close to un-installing and freeing up some HD space ...

Here's the squad command UI from OFDR in case you haven't seen it:

I still find myself more interested in playing OFPR than the later armas --- something about the setting and even the graphics has more appeal ...

Totally agree, you know it's got some great mods and new campaigns/missions right?

[roshnak 41]

Here's the squad command UI from OFDR in case you haven't seen it:

I agree with a lot of your post, but this is not an example of a great UI. It's clearly designed for a console D-pad. A menu like SWAT 4's could be better, but both of these options would remove the ability to use voice command tools, since they are primarily mouse/controller driven. Really, they could just trim down the communications menu so it doesn't have more than 5 or 6 categories and 5 or 6 options within those categories, which would make it far easier to reach all the commands without moving your hand too far.

I also don't agree with this:

Totally agree, you know it's got some great mods and new campaigns/missions right?

You know he's talking about OFP: Resistance, the expansion to OFP, not OFP: DR by Codemasters, right? Although, really, both of those sentiments are questionable.

Edited March 23, 2014 by roshnak

[Gattobuono 10]

this is not an example of a great UI. It's clearly designed for a console D-pad.

I'm playing on PC and it works great, in fact better than console (I once had it on xbox as well).

You know he's talking about OFP: Resistance, the expansion to OFP, not OFP: DR by Codemasters, right? Although, really, both of sentiments are questionable.

My bad, I thought he was talking about Dragon Rising. Have you tried OFDR modded? It's awesome, especially playing the campaign in coop mode.

[ProfTournesol 956]

My bad, I thought he was talking about Dragon Rising. Have you tried OFDR modded? It's awesome, especially playing the campaign in coop mode.

Come on, seriously ?

[gonk 0]

I guess it is just time to move on.. I know I have, plus so have most of the people I used to play with, I guess we just all have Arma bug fatigue. I guess they are trying to aim at new clientele. It was great while it lasted.

[aviatormoser 6]

Hello everyone,

I just have to speak out loud what I was thinking yesterday... I was playing the 2nd campaign of Arma 3 - I'll not spoiler anything - just let me say it's the one where you can run into a fully functional repair truck (yeah). When trying to sit some of my squad members into the truck and then have them drive somewhere to a half-destroyed vehicle (for repair!) I really couldn't believe what I saw:

- The AI driver didn't move at all.

- After turning around the truck by myself (and re-fitting the AI into it again) it finally moved on...

- Over stones and stuff until one wheel went missing already

- A few hundred meters later it hit a tree (still no total loss, AI still kept inside the vehicle trying to drive over (or through)) the tree?

- It kept doing this until I saved the truck by removing the AI again.

Regards,

Michael

Dude, I hear you. I can't have an AI driver go through a town without losing a tire. Frustratingly stupid. It's like the game designers didn't somehow factor in the larger trucks in the street design.

[Gattobuono 10]

Come on, seriously ?

..yes seriously, why ... do you have an issue with that? Please explain.

---------- Post added at 17:26 ---------- Previous post was at 17:23 ----------

I guess it is just time to move on.. I know I have, plus so have most of the people I used to play with, I guess we just all have Arma bug fatigue. I guess they are trying to aim at new clientele. It was great while it lasted.

My sentiments exactly: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?175004-Bye-Bye-BI-A-Farewell-Ode

[ProfTournesol 956]

..yes seriously, why ... do you have an issue with that? Please explain.

An issue ? 64 playable entities including the player ? No planes ? Even the real OFP is so far better.

[Gattobuono 10]

An issue ? 64 playable entities including the player ? No planes ? Even the real OFP is so far better.

I played (and still have the disc of) the original OFP. The aircraft in the whole OFP Arma series are terrible arcade like vehicles, no better than Battlefield 3/4. I have real world aviation experience and also play DCS world, X-Plane, etc. so I know what I'm talking about.

I've never understood why Arma fanboys are so against OFDR, it's really a great game, in many ways far superior to the Arma series ... but it's your loss I guess.

[jgbtl292 0]

The aircraft in the whole OFP Arma series are terrible arcade like vehicles

? sure ? ofp is the only game with ground effect for copters - is a real feature and was removed in all the others sequels

in ofp you can get out a landed copter as pilot and the engine runs ( good for quick start after come back ) - was now removed.

or the feature that you determined when the landing gear extends. can't understand this practise from BIS to remove more and more real flawless and useful features from the game and the complete community say "give us more features on copters " at the same time ......:j: its surreal for me. this gives me a big ?

or removed commands - stop scan horizon for example - its not funny with a tank regiment and all turning and turning the turret ^^ and no chance for remove this command. - give a target help only for short time. never will stop the ai this command the turn all time back to scan horizon when you have no target more. - absolute stupid

or in all sequels you give the command with ^ ALL UNITS make xyz - and your avatar say " all go to yxz " in Arma 3 you have the absolute stupid thing - you give the command ALL and you say " number 2 got to , number 3 go to , number 4 go to , number 5 go to .... etc. WOW BIS a wonderful changing with a big group you need minutes for the simplest commands for all .....

I touch my head and ask me to - play its own game actually to see how to play it ? I do not believe it :mad:

Edited March 23, 2014 by JgBtl292