First ARMA impressions

[GabKa73 0]

Well, I'm very disappointed, reading all these negative reviews...

I don't understand why there should be so many stupid bugs in ArmA, if we have such an experienced modding community.

We have these forums, the community has been expressing their wants and wishes for ArmA every since news first came out about the developement of the game. BIS can see what people have been modding, which mods have been most succesful, what people would love to have changed, which engine limitations there are, which parts of the game work perfectly and don't need changing...

We shouldn't have to rely on the community to fix these mistakes BIS have made in ArmA, and they appear to have made loads. The modders are there to improve the game, make it more interesting, add content, but not to fix BIS' mistakes.

Man, chill out. The game is released a couple of weeks now. They need feedback to get reasonable patches out. If I were them I would wait till the german release is in the stores for some weeks and than I would start to address bug reports. The more input you get the more issues you can cover.

And I never mentioned the modding community as a replacement to official patches.

[kavoven 4]

It's kinda depressing to see that people are accepting the fact they'll have to wait '5 years', for a game they spent 40E on, to be what they expected it to be in the first place... What's this attitude all about?

What if you ordered a plate of spaghetti in a good restaurant, but the ingredients were only added every 10 minutes? Would you sit there and happily pay for that? Even worse, would you get up, go to the kitchen and start cooking it yourself?

this explains why it is soooo suprasingly hard to find publishers of ArmA. They dont believe in unfinished products.

I don't know what you expect here. I would understand your complain when you where talking about a multi-million-budget game like bf2 with a ten-times-bigger dev crew backed by a multi-billlion-publisher with a multi-million-pr-campaign.

This is a small developpement team here with no money backup from any publisher during production time. You need to give it a little more patiens.

Not when we pay the same as we pay for something made by one of these "multi-billlion-publisher with a multi-million-pr-campaign"

You got it.

Even if they worked 2 years non-stop, why are there mainly graphical improvements? Until now I heared from many people saying that the AI hasn't been really improved. The Harrier can't start vertically, many bugs and so on... I don't want to be too waxy about it, because it's BIS, but after what I've read so far, I won't buy ArmA. I made this mistake with X3 and with Gothic 3. Both unfinished games and it really sucked to play them, directly after the release.

[GabKa73 0]

I think it is really too early to come to such conclusions. I can't say it often enough: The game is out since not even a month and not even in all european countries.

I'd like to point out that the worst complains here come from people who don't even have played the game.

[Stealth3 0]

The problem is not the bugs as much as its what people expected. OFP had bugs, but OFP was also the first game by BIS and people didn't even know BIS existed before it.

I think they had success with OFP and Res, so the expectation is high for them to make a stable game.

But when you have the same bugs as in OFP in ARMA, then it becomes a problem. Because ARMA isn't even a new game. It's not like it uses a totally different engine and everything is new.

Also because of OFP's success they have a lot of pressure to make a better game.

Hopefully they will work out the bugs and release a patch. If not, I doubt ARMA will be successful, especially with the regional releases.

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]So maybe they were so tired they missed the lil things?

If it only were little things it would be no problem.

Take the ingame voicecoms for example. They sound if you just recorded some sentences and phrases plus some numbers and chopped them apart. The puzzle you get is what you hear in Arma.

If the recordings would have been more neutral and consistant the result would be much better. Right now it sounds funny, but only funny.

Llauma and I had a conversation on the voices and we found out that text to speech engines that are pretty flexible nowadays could be a longterm alternative to prerecorded samples and as a surplus would enhance a BIS product alot as it would make the overall game very much more interesting as dialogues could be created "on the fly", which opens a new world for AI and mission creators. As a side-effect it would keep missionfiles small as there would be no need for recorded voices anymore.

Play around with a text-to-speech engine here ( good for chilling too ), use some phrases from OFP and be surprised about the result:

AT&T Text to speech

Choose a male speaker.

I guess we can be most contributing to BIS and the game if we collect the issues at hand and place them into a thread once the german version is delivered.

[RobNob (6th) 0]

Well where do i start.

Bitching about a game that has only been released, is useless.

BIS are probably looking into the bugs, and trying to fix, them, people should count themselve lucky that the game was even released this year. Your lucky they even made the effort.

I aint got the game, but some of my closest friends do.

aka sickboy... And he's been fair it's a great game but has bugs... Like any other game

People should understand that BIS was under pressure, from the consumers (you), and from themselves, should they release it now so people can enjoy the new era? or put the game on hold for 6 - 8 months while they look for every tiny little bug...

Personally i think you would be bitching and saying i dont care if it's not finished, release it now!

But they did release it, and as i say again count yourself lucky.

Patches will be released, but again wouldnt u want them to take there time and figure the bugs out, instead of releasing a half arsed patch which im sure again you would complain about.

Enjoy the game.

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]Personally i think you would be bitching and saying i dont care if it's not finished, release it now!

I guess I do not only speak for myself if I say that the Com here, the people who are around for some years, always said that BIS should take as much time as they need. I guess it´s false to put blame on us now.

This is in general a grown-up com supporting BIS.

Edit: Damn typos

[RobNob (6th) 0]

what im trying to say is that everyone makes mistakes, and so what if the game is not 100% upto people's standards.

it will give them more incentive to do more for the game, you never know what will be in the next patch, just be patient it will all be ok

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]and so what if the game is not 100% upto people's standards

One question: Have you played it ?

[RobNob (6th) 0]

no, if u read the first post i made it cleary states i do not have the game

[Goldenwings2002 0]

<----- *Grabs Popcorn*

[kavoven 4]

I think it is really too early to come to such conclusions. I can't say it often enough: The game is out since not even a month and not even in all european countries.

I'd like to point out that the worst complains here come from people who don't even have played the game.

I recently talked to people who played the game and I watched videos. For example this patch-work-radiochat, which Bals already mentioned, is really getting on my nervs and I can't understand, why BIS than didn't use the OFP voices, which were a lot better...

[Apache-LOL- 0]

So ARmed assault is nothing more than a halve beta version ?

And it sucks ? and its not worth to buy ? they should work on the bugs before release and not release the game and then see wot happens are they totally screwed ? this is just fucking sad like.

I really dont understand how this can happen , who were testing ARmA  ?? mongs ??  idiots ? , kiddies ?  .

our community is to big and  serious to freak it up like fucking amateurs i guess ...     just to bad. and also that starforce bullshit  Armed Assault is cracked already so why use this bullshit ?  

Greetings

[Zendjir 0]

Quote[/b] ]Well where do i start.

Bitching about a game that has only been released, is useless.

BIS are probably looking into the bugs, and trying to fix, them, people should count themselve lucky that the game was even released this year. Your lucky they even made the effort.

I aint got the game, but some of my closest friends do.

aka sickboy... And he's been fair it's a great game but has bugs... Like any other game

People should understand that BIS was under pressure, from the consumers (you), and from themselves, should they release it now so people can enjoy the new era? or put the game on hold for 6 - 8 months while they look for every tiny little bug...

Personally i think you would be bitching and saying i dont care if it's not finished, release it now!

But they did release it, and as i say again count yourself lucky.

Patches will be released, but again wouldnt u want them to take there time and figure the bugs out, instead of releasing a half arsed patch which im sure again you would complain about.

Enjoy the game.

Because BIS was under pressure they released a flawed game and we should be......lucky they released it at all??!

No, people pay money for a product and should not consider themselves lucky that the product was delivered at all and that it functions to some extent. That's like saying: ''ooooh my new car misses all it's lights even though I paid a premium price, oh well the manufacturer must have been under alot of pressure. I'm so happy right now!".

I think BIS owes the people who have bought the game an apology, and atleast a patch ASAP. I understand that BIS does not have the resources that big companies like EA have, but that is no excuse for releasing a bugged product.

[Ian Malcolm 0]

@ Nov. 24 2006,20:07)]So ARmed assault is nothing more than a halve beta version ?

And it sucks ? and its not worth to buy ?

I really dont understand how this can happen , who were testing ARmA ?? mongs ?? idiots ? , kiddies ? .

our community is to serious to freak it up like fucking amateurs i guess ... just to bad .

Greetings

Well.. yeah. Maybe they shouldn't release it yet and wait till it will be polished as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or Duke Nukem Forewer. I agree...

Erm... or not? Well... I'm glad they released it already. Patches will fix most of the bugs as with old OFP did.

[DodgyGeeza 0]

^^^

Unfortunately most games released now are HUGE dissapointments, filled with bug. Its a bloody shame that these developers are allowed to get away with it.

This was the only game i was actually keeping my computer to play. I'm selling my computer.

[Abs_01 0]

I think BIS owes the people who have bought the game an apology, and atleast a patch ASAP. I understand that BIS does not have the resources that big companies like EA have, but that is no excuse for releasing a bugged product.

Yes....you are right. EA releases perfect games with no flaws; games that have such a huge scope and also a distinct and different gameplay.

I can't wait for the day EA releases something half as good as Armed Assault.

Abs

[Average Joe 0]

Afterall, the best critics are the gamers themselves, so therefore by releasing the game and us proding and poking the game to ween out every single bug BIS might have a better understanding of what to put in the next patch.

[dmitri 0]

Compare the original press release and shots of ArmA, to what we have today.

[sickboy 13]

Compare the original press release and shots of ArmA, to what we have today.

Compare the original press release systems, to what ppl with the screenshots used today

Because BIS was under pressure they released a flawed game and we should be......lucky they released it at all??!  ...

I agree, customer pays for the product, and so they may have expectancies from it aswell.

Sadly, what happend with ArmA, happened/happens/will keep happening to games in this era and probably forerver...

especially great games, and especially games that aren't hitting masses (you must agree... ArmA isn't your casual game, and it will also not be sold as much as such game...)

Sadly the market works this way now, especially for smaller development companies/teams, probably due to discussable reasons...

Maybe Pressure or Financial Issues, maybe they just like to be this way .. which is probably the reason that ppl will assume the easiest..

Still I believe that BIS has no real alternative as for the way they had to go, either due to current market developments or otherwise..

It might've even been completely out of their hands and a Publishers choice...

Or they release it in this phases way especially because they want to have additional time to fix as much as possible before it's able to hit the big masses...

It's a lot of guessing as usual

Anyway, due to the, though sadly, market as it is now..I already gave up bitching about every single (little) thing wrong or "not yet as it should be" feature, a long time ago.

Instead of wasting time and tears on bitching about them, I accept them and live with them, and learned to appreciate those things that DO make the game already so great.

Besides, I have no doubt that all things will be fixed anyways, next to the additions they promised and ofcoarse the dedicated addon & mod community

(And seriously, I personally think that if ppl seriously want it to change, they are bitching against the wrong ppl and should go higher up)

It's all a matter of perception and opinion, so I personally don't feel to continue to discuss the matter,

simply because it wouldn't lead to anything, except to the same conclussion over and over;

we're of different opinion in these matters, and long live freedom of opinion and free speech

[killaalf 0]

this explains why it is soooo suprasingly hard to find publishers of ArmA. They dont believe in unfinished products.

Rrriiiiiiight. EA, Jowood, Ubisoft - they'd never ever release an unfinished product, no way! Did you spend the last few years away from computer games or is my sarcasm-meter acting up again?

I'd think that Battlefield 2 was/is a big asset for EA and the state it was released in was anything but finished. It took them over a year to make the serverbrowser usable, the friggin' serverbrowser for a (pretty much) friggin' online-only game! Explain this, please. Not to mention that every patch seemed like a little two-steps-forward-one-step-back dance. Still, I've whiled away well over 600 hours with it and the biggest beef I have with the game are the players, something that isn't the games' fault, really.

Gothic 3 - make no mistake, I love the Gothic's and I could forgive pretty much every bug I've encountered with G3 so far, save two: the ambient soundbug and and the CTD when saving bug. Unfinished? Hell, yes! But once those bugs are gone I will definitely come back to this wonderful world.

No, the reason why it is soooo surprisingly hard to find a publisher for ArmA is that it caters to a rather small niche of the gaming market and the publishers are well aware of this fact, something that could not be said of all the members of this forum, it seems. I'm not picking on you in particular, mind, this actually occurs to me everytime I read this board, your post just provided me with a reason to vent, sorry.

This is no mainstream game, sirrah! This is no game to rake in the quick buck and replace it rather quickly with its successor (BF2142, anyone?), it has staying power. It has a strong community and just looking at a list of all the mods, addons, etc. that have been released for O:FP must have those beancounters quaking in their boots - there is no money in it for them, you see. Look at sims in general, they are a dying breed. My first ever PC game was Falcon 3.0 in 1993. It was an unfinished mess and full of bugs and still, I loved it to death, hehe. The late 80's until about middle 90's were the heyday of sims, all of them unfinished in some way, I might add, they have been dwindling ever since then, plus they never drew that big of a crowd as the more "flashier" titles in the first place.

To be honest, I find myself drawn more to those as well nowadays. I could've spent those 600 hours from above with Falcon 4.0 Allied Assault or Steelbeasts Pro instead, only I didn't. For one thing I somehow can't find the time anymore to delve deeply into those sims and really learn them and secondly I like fragging guys online

That's not what I look forward to, though, when I'll wrap my greedy hands around my german SE of ArmA next week. It's singleplayer first, coop and CTI next. I have tried DM or CTF in Flashpoint only a couple of times and found them horrible, both gameplay- and netcode-wise. One could say I never really gave them a choice and rightly so, but I've become bored with pure DM years ago (never mind my aging reflexes/eyesight coupled with pride :P ) and I also very much enjoy playing with friends in a rather relaxed atmosphere in which we dictate the speed of the game. ArmA sounds perfect for the job.

Of course there'll be warts, maybe even very ugly ones but I'm sure I'll be having a helluva good time come next Friday! And it can only get better from there, given BIS' track record.

[here the rant endeth]

[Heatseeker 0]

When OPF came out it didnt even have "working" MP and all game rifles had an M16 shadow... Arma will improve, BIS are likely working on it but everything needs to be tested to make sure they dont introduce new problems.

This general reaction here is disapointing, there are more complainers who dont have the game than complainers that do, lets have some more impressions from people who do have the game, thats what the topic was made for .

[EiZei 0]

This general reaction here is disapointing, there are more complainers who dont have the game than complainers that do, lets have some more impressions from people who do have the game, thats what the topic was made for .

Quite a few game owners are among the complainers already, it's been out for two weeks now if you havent forgotten.

[action man 0]

I can't understand why they made it to run on unrealistic hardware Ok if you are loaded or a spoilt kid you will have the hardware! But "normal" users with normal rigs will get shit fps. Put it another way,when the x-box version comes out it will run fantasticaly on it with a fraction of the p.c's hardware specs just like it did with ofp! I mentioned in a previous post that their is still no hardware out today that can run OFP with all setting's on full.I got shot down by the die hard fan's. Yet i read on this board over and over again thing's like"AA has been designed to run on future hardware"Well i don't want to upgrade my rig again just to play this game And before all the shoot down's startjust ask yourselfs one question-how come al over game's run fine on normal every day comp's but not AA! p.s just wait for a few month's till the console version come's out and it will run perfectly

[Ian Malcolm 0]

I can't understand why they made it to run on unrealistic hardware Ok if you are loaded or a spoilt kid you will have the hardware! But "normal" users with normal rigs will get shit fps.

Well... it's more simulation than action game. It's made for that kind of people wich have PC strong enough to run Lock On or Flight Simulator X on high details

In few last years i played few games wich hadn't any single bug. Unfortunately they were all console games :P