Discussion about immersion in Arma III (and the series in general)

[acoustic 82]

Seems sorta odd to discuss immersion in Arma III, seeing as it is one of the most realistic games ever. But just as it succeeds in some of the immersive aspects, it falls short in others. 

 

Arma III makes me feel like I am in a realistic shooter with its damage system, artificial intelligence, vehicle controls, freedom, map size, ect. But somehow the world feels very un immersive and empty. And I know before I go any further there will be people that are gonna rehash the same argument of "It's up to the mission maker" that doesn't actually hold up if we dive into what the actual issues are. I could go into a detailed explanation on each of these but it would probably take a few pages to complete, so here is just a list:

 

Explosion visual effects

Explosion and gun sounds (while improved, could still use some work)

Textures for guns, uniforms, vehicles, ect. Why does everything look like it just came out of a laundry mat?

Environmental effects like dust blowing, debris floating, weather effect improvements, ect.

Every city looking pristine and not "war torn" at all (works for some missions, but not many).

Environmental sounds. 

 

 

Idk, its really hard to even put some of it into words. The world just feels dead. I've been making missions for 8 years, and even with my best effort, missions still are missing that immersion. 

I am in no way trying to bash BI, as I am a huge fan of the series. Just curious as to what other people's opinions are. 

 

As for me, I am finding it very difficult to get back into the game soley based on the immersion aspect. 

[EO 11277]

It's a trade off isn't it?....If all that you ask was in the base game, I doubt the scripting and modding community would be as thriving as it is around here...

[theevancat 277]

Apparently the way the RV engine works has been that they sacrifice graphical power (the overt stuff that you're talking about) for more performance under the hood, so to speak. So yes, the graphics are a bit sterile, but the mechanics of the game are pretty intense when it gets down to it.

 

I've seen some of the work done by BI on the new renderer (well, the Enfusion engine in general) that they're putting in for DayZ that's most likely going to be used for future BI products. They've made really good progress on a lot of those things that you've listed. Even without a new renderer, they've made some good progress on graphical and audio immersion in the last few updates. I've got confidence in the future that a lot of these issues are gonna be addressed.

[Rich_R 1087]

Would I like garbage lying on the street, cars parked everywhere and civvies walking around? Sure. But I love my FPS more....lol

 

As a mission-maker, its always a fine-line between building and atmosphere and making the game playable. I can only imagine what BI are faced with regarding developing the engine, terrains, etc.

 

We have come a long way over the different generation of engines and as theevancat notes, it should only get better!

[GanX 15]

I think the thing that limits the game from being even more immersive is the tech behind the game. Not being able to fully utilize the hardware of the PC is a bit mission breaking since people experience bad FPS and mission makers cant really make the mission as they envision it. (I am not trying to make BI look bad, its just how it is)

 

For me the missions usually start a bit un-immersive because things usually start out slow. You perhaps walk down a street that is pretty empty, no trash, perhaps not even any civilians, nothing really special to notice and it doesn't help that all the buildings are empty.However when the game picks up and excels is when Sh*t hits the fan. When the bullets start flying, team mates get injured, fire support is coming in. That is when you forget all about empty buildings and no trash to look at. I really love that about Arma, when things start happening you really forget about all the other stuff.

 

I cant even imagine what mission makers would come up with if they had more resources to play with for placing more objects and making the world feel more alive.