Arma 3 DLC - CONTACT

[target_practice 163]

7 minutes ago, Rich_R said:

Would I be assuming too much to think they're using hidden textures for the new helmets and if so, wouldn't this be a first for BI?

I'd imagine they're just different models like all the other helmets.

[Alwarren 2767]

12 hours ago, stburr91 said:

I didn't give a statistic, I said I'm one of many.

 

Did you not read the thread? The clear majority of people said they don't care for the alien concept. In fact, very few (in this thread) have embraced it. 

 

That proves what? The clear majority of people in a Flat Earth channel think the earth is flat. People that are content don't complain. It's only people that are not.

Seriously, I do not know how many people hate aliens either, but neither do you. Mods like Star Wars and Halo were quite successful.

 

12 hours ago, stburr91 said:

People prefer military content in their military games....who'd have thunk it. 

 

Yeah, that must be the reason why Arma 3 Life is so popular. Quelle surprise. People preferring civilian content in their military game... who'd have thought...

 

[Alwarren 2767]

10 hours ago, Grahame said:

But we could have been using these assets for years now... but were forbidden under legal jeopardy 

 

Because it is Bohemia Interactive that owns the rights to these, maybe? And they wanted to wait until DayZ sold sufficient numbers?

[The Man Without Qualities 110]

It is just a DLC, nobody needs ti buy.

The odd thing is the signal BIS is sending to the community.

It looks like BIS is selling out all unfinished stuff/addons rotting at some SSDs and wrapped hastily a alien story around because with alien+timetravel you can explain any curiousity.

When I look through the forum, I get the impression that the community wants rather things fixed before new (potentionally also buggy) assets are added.

IMHO, every dime, evey dev-minute spend into addon dev is wasted, to have a successor for A3 befoe 2035.

I would give BIS every year 200€ for bugfixes, just maintenance of A3 + dev of A4 until....

 

[Maio 293]

Small reminder, BI has multiple studios, each working on a different project. 

[nkenny 1057]

Worth it for the tractor. 

 

-k 

[sberla101 50]

Hi everyone.

 

Am I the only one who believes (and perhaps hopes) that this "Expansion" is not what the BIS want us to believe? Let me explain myself better, if that "alien technology", of which we see very little, was just something created by the Russian CSATs to divert attention from other devices like East Wind?

I ask myself this question because I love BIS too much and I am incredulous about the way they have decided to take this expansion. I know very well that this does not mean that the future of ArmA will be SciFi, but it honestly left me a bitter taste in my mouth. Maybe I should "live it" lightly and not worry too much and enjoy the journey that only ArmA can give me.

 

Mine is not meant to be a criticism.

 

Thx

[haleks 8212]

@sberla101: Science-fiction is just another theater/context to explore Arma game mechanics, in my opinion : they clearly didn't add aliens for the sake of aliens - the trailer already hints at new gameplay and what I believe to be a "stalker-like" gamemode with hunts for artefacts. From what I can gather, aliens will be a distant presence and we won't interact directly with them : most of the action should remain very much conventional.

[AveryTheKitty 2626]

10 minutes ago, haleks said:

@sberla101: Science-fiction is just another theater/context to explore Arma game mechanics, in my opinion : they clearly didn't add aliens for the sake of aliens - the trailer already hints at new gameplay and what I believe to be a "stalker-like" gamemode with hunts for artefacts. From what I can gather, aliens will be a distant presence and we won't interact directly with them : most of the action should remain very much conventional.

This.

 

I'm getting roadside picnic vibes more than anything, especially with a new looter faction in cfgFactionClasses.

[lexx 1363]

Who knows, maybe the alien isn't even aggressive and it is all between blufor and opfor.

[froggyluv 2135]

1 hour ago, Maio said:

Small reminder, BI has multiple studios, each working on a different project. 

 

 Which guys are working on Old Man?

[eriktrak 76]

32 minutes ago, lexx said:

Who knows, maybe the alien isn't even aggressive and it is all between blufor and opfor.

 

I am pretty sure that we won't fight against the aliens but the different factions going to fight for the resources and knowledge provided by the aliens.

 

However  I could imagine an Arma XCOM FPS too.

 

And I understand those who has issues with this alien scenario but you still have the new weapons, terrain etc to play with.

[stburr91 1002]

I decided to wait before posting, and after sleeping on it, here are my thoughts.

 

I hate posting this, I generally try to be positive, but there just hasn't been anything to be positive about since Jay Crowe left, leaving Arma floundering with a lack of leadership, and decision makers that are out of tune with the community. 

 

First, like many, I'm not a fan of the alien concept, but ignoring the aliens... let me talk about the rest of the content.

 

Well, lets just get this out of the way right from the start.

 

I have bought all of the official A3 content, gladly, and being eager to buy new content, $25 isn't a lot of money for an expansion, but....

 

This is not even close to an expansion, truthfully, it's about half an expansion, with a full expansion price tag. This isn't about the price, I'd gladly pay $25 for an expansion, this is about getting what you are paying for. 

 

So, moving on. 

 

The new map.

 

Sadly, this is simply yet another Chernarus (that's now 7 Chernarus maps for those of you at home counting).  The new map is mostly buildings from Dayz, so if you bought the standalone Dayz, congrats, you just paid for the buildings ....twice.  Yes, BI just charged you again for content you already own.

 

 The vehicles.

 

Well there are no real vehicles. Sorry, but a little drone, and a f**king tractor just doesn't cut it for an expansion.  Seriously BI, a f**king tractor, that's just adding insult to injury.

 

The weapons.

 

Yeah, not much there either. 

 

The rest of the content is mostly reskins, and small objects. Hell, reskins, and small objects DLC would have been an much more accurate description of this project. 

 

I want new content as much of the rest of you, and until more recently, I liked the direction Arma was going, and was eager to buy their content, but not anymore.

 

I no longer have any faith that BI (with it's current leadership) is capable of creating decent content, and that is really unfortunate since BI has failed to plan for delivering Arma 4 anytime soon. 

 

God, I hate being "that guy" complaining about Arma, I really want to like the new direction Arma is going, but I just can't get on board.

 

 

 

 

[krzychuzokecia 717]

16 hours ago, bars91 said:

Great way to alienate a part of your audience 😉

Oh, the jokes write themselves!

2 hours ago, The Man Without Qualities said:

The odd thing is the signal BIS is sending to the community.

It looks like BIS is selling out all unfinished stuff/addons rotting at some SSDs and wrapped hastily a alien story around because with alien+timetravel you can explain any curiousity.

I'm glad I'm not the only one to feel like that. From what I see, all we get for this DLC (priced almost as high as the full game!) are:

1. a bunch of retextured units:

• Russians - funny thing, different texture for them is left in game data since the beginning,
• Livonians who are just woodland AAF,

2. few weapons:

• new AK-12 variants - I suppose, knowing how things work in game art development, that these models may have been already made during Apex development (rarely art studios get back to remake old stuff, case in point Livonian Offroad which still have damaged passenger doors, like post-apo Altis car),
• Mk14 but with smaller magazine - with mag proxies being a thing now it's... pathethic,
• Shotgun - Kozlice is back, yay! But wasn't that gun taken from DayZ?
• MSBS/Grot-ish bullpup thingy - OK, that's new but that 2x scope/carry handle taken from Croatian VHS-2 doesn't fit the rest of the gun at all,

3. a bunch of CRBN equipment - that's cool, but again I have a strong feeling that this content was being made for Laws of War, but missed the deadline (this suspicion is even stronger due to the fact that both Contact and Orange/LoW were made by BIS Amsterdam), this includes the new UGV,

4. tractor - this is just laziness, not only it's the same old Arma 2 model, which we already have in A3 thanks to CUP and/or other ports, but it also doesn't fit to the futuristic style of other civilian vehicles (note that this model is some kind of 80s era Zetor tractor, and even in 2019 those are a rare sight, much less in 2035),

5. new island - well, OK, thanks for that,

6. ayy lmao objects and campaign focused on dealing with ayy lmaos, who are apparently just McGuffins.

 

So the really new stuff are island, two guns (MSBS and Kozlice), CRBN and ayy lmao objects. Campaign... I have a feeling it will be a failure - I liked movie Arrival (Amy was no accident) but it seems that even this idea is not realized completely in Contact, and we'll have a traditional shootout with Russians over McGuffin.

 

So for all of it's revolutionary content, this DLC is story-wise just micro-East Wind, but with McGuffin being so out of place, that half of the community (which doesn't end on just these forums) is enraged. Had BIS went with something more down to Earth (for example old Soviet WMDs exploding in former bases in Livonia - contaminated Soviet bases are real thing in Poland), nobody would really bat an eye, and we all would be dancing in circle, happy that we finally get Russian component of CSAT.

[Zhivets 2392]

Why is this somehow worth more than GM? Sure, the map is nice and all, but the content provided is mostly boring reskins of vanilla uniforms which have already been done to death by BI and the modding community, and ported DayZ assets that are years old, which those of us who own DayZ have already paid for, and some strange sci-fi storyline that has nothing to do with the armaverse. Meanwhile GM offers much more original content and involves a setting that undoubtedly appeals to far more people than aliens. And if the terrain assets for Contact are free as with Apex, you're getting even less for your money.

[lexx 1363]

Because you open up the door for much more criticism if you price "paid mods" too high. People were crying already as-is.

 

Honest question: What exactly do people expect content wise for a 20 bucks dlc?

[haleks 8212]

I would add that simply comparing numbers between the CDLC and official content doesn't make much sense.

The creative process is different, with different goals and scope. GM sure is impressive in many ways, and compared to it, A3 Contact might seem a little light; but we don't know nothing yet about its play value and quality.

Story writting, acting, music quality, game modes design and other things that can't really be quantified may surprise us and justify a comparatively high price.

 

It's a bit soon to start bashing the new DLC IMO.

[instagoat 133]

Considering that A3 was supposed to be scifi before it was rolled back to its current near future setting, maybe the story is a little more involved. That they spoiler the twist in the trailer is the disappointment, if anything. The Units seem to be kitbashes from existing meshes, but the vests look at least partially new. Making new buildings from scratch is probably out of scope for what appears to be a side operation when compared to the main studios in CzRep. So is completely new vehicles, etc, thus the sidegrades for existing ones. Such as the hardtop for the pickup, and the new textures. The russian units do not use the TCU of the persian and chinese CSAT units, apparently. The Uniforms look more like Gorkas. The Helmets are reskins though...

 

I hope they read some good books (or a helpful site such as atomic rockets) before writing this. If the Aliens are there to steal our water, I am going to scream.

[AveryTheKitty 2626]

7 minutes ago, instagoat said:

Considering that A3 was supposed to be scifi before it was rolled back to its current near future setting, maybe the story is a little more involved. That they spoiler the twist in the trailer is the disappointment, if anything. The Units seem to be kitbashes from existing meshes, but the vests look at least partially new. Making new buildings from scratch is probably out of scope for what appears to be a side operation when compared to the main studios in CzRep. So is completely new vehicles, etc, thus the sidegrades for existing ones. Such as the hardtop for the pickup, and the new textures. The russian units do not use the TCU of the persian and chinese CSAT units, apparently. The Uniforms look more like Gorkas. The Helmets are reskins though...

 

I hope they read some good books (or a helpful site such as atomic rockets) before writing this. If the Aliens are there to steal our water, I am going to scream.

 

The LDF uniforms are a mix of the officer and combat uniforms. Vests and helmets are new entirely.

 

The Russian uniforms might be from DayZ but I'm not sure - though they do have Viper gloves now. Same with the vest. Helmets are "new" models but built off of the vanilla CSAT ones from the looks of it.

[Alwarren 2767]

10 minutes ago, haleks said:

It's a bit soon to start bashing the new DLC IMO.

 

Quite frankly, I am wondering why someone would bash it in the first place. It's like saying "I hate pineapple on pizza", the easiest cure for that is to not eat pineapple on pizza, and the same option exists here - if one doesn't think what you get is worth the money, the easiest way is not to buy it. Case closed. 

 

Granted, I can understand if someone doesn't like the Alien concept, and would have wanted a different DLC, but this is what's on offer. Either take it up, or not.

[Rich_R 1087]

13 minutes ago, haleks said:

It's a bit soon to start bashing the new DLC IMO.

 

But how else are players going to use their over-simplified arguments and viewpoints about BI and anything they try to do?

[Tankbuster 1744]

2 hours ago, lexx said:

Who knows, maybe the alien isn't even aggressive and it is all between blufor and opfor.

Or maybe the aliens are just OPFOR. Until BLUFOR became aware of the device, they didn't know it was OPFOR. (yes, my knowledge of the campaign is patchy at best)

[mmm 35]

2 hours ago, lexx said:

Who knows, maybe the alien isn't even aggressive and it is all between blufor and opfor.

Well I'm not buying it but that's where I put my dough, the things you actually play with probably have little to do with "alien". Maybe some "shut up and take my money" person can confirm or deny this. BI should know that for a game like ARMA with milsim backbone is just a unnatural to have actual combat involving "alien". But then again they did zombie before so...

 

22 minutes ago, lexx said:

Because you open up the door for much more criticism if you price "paid mods" too high. People were crying already as-is.

 

Honest question: What exactly do people expect content wise for a 20 bucks dlc?

Well full price new release is 60 so whatever that costs 1/2 of that to develop? With lifetime ongoing support it is arguably not that easy to quantify exactly what qualify as the said cost, but IMHO the general idea sounds fair no?

[krzychuzokecia 717]

5 hours ago, haleks said:

the trailer already hints at new (...) "stalker-like" gamemode with hunts for artefacts

 

3 hours ago, haleks said:

gamemode design

I'd like to point out, that Steam Store page for Contact have no mention of any new game mode. There's a single-player campaign, but MP is limited to Zeus, Warlords and Combat Patrol. Also store page explicitly states that new gear is scripted only in SP campaign, and serves no purpose in MP.

3 hours ago, lexx said:

Honest question: What exactly do people expect content wise for a 20 bucks dlc?

I'd gladly exchange ayy lmaos for few new vehicles for Livonians. For example 4x4 and truck, and maybe one armored vehicle or helicopter. Just enough to make them look less like AAF redux.

 

If BI insists on going all X-COM, then some proper aliens would be nice touch. At least then we could have a true hard sci-fi mil-sim. Otherwise it seems like unfinished stuff hastily wrapped in an alien story (as @The Man Without Qualities said).

2 hours ago, Alwarren said:

I can understand if someone doesn't like the Alien concept, and would have wanted a different DLC, but this is what's on offer. Either take it up, or not.

Well, BI (in their marketing genius) decided to add to this DLC a true mil-sim content which was expected by community from the day one (namely: Russians and recon UGV). This is enough for many to catch their attention, but they are put off by the sci-fi story. Which seems to be rather bland rip-off of Arrival, which in turn is a rip-off of 2001. I'm sorry to say, but I doubt that BI writers can pull it off. In fact, BI seems sure that they cannot, so we are promised a shootout with Russians. Yay! Then why going for the ayy lmao aspect at all? Just to show we're different, we're original? You're really not.

 

I'd gladly pay for just the Russians, or just the recon UGV, or just another fake country (but not AAF retexture), or CBRN items and procedures DLC. Combined it would make a no-brainer expansion for me. But this one cliche element makes me question the whole package. And I'm not against sci-fi in mil-sim (or other way around), but even BI aliens are just... well, they're not even there. Ayy lmao!

Edited May 24, 2019 by krzychuzokecia
Typo

[Valken 622]

It appears I would be in the minority but I've been hoping for near future Sci Fi in ARMA 3 since its Alpha for the original story!

 

Love the preview video already... so much like a smart version of X-Files with Contact movie and hopefully a bit of X-Com style Aliens!

 

Going to scrutinize this even more for the actual content but know that BIS provides engine and basic improvements to the game system via each official DLC so even if all the old hard core war gamers won't buy this, at least you still get to play with and enjoy any engine enhancements.

 

Map looks tasty, just like Apex when it was first shown which I bought just for the map and cool Viper gear so this is more my style of DLC.

 

I would consider the collectors edition but I already have ARMA 3. Wonder can I gift the base game with APEX to someone else while I keep the extra content and DLC?