What made OPF better?

[ebns72 0]

Ambience.

OPF had war ambience. The sounds of gunshots, the chaos, the down-in-the-mud fighting.

Arma does not. Everything feels very "calculated." I.E., every gunshot is to kill an enemy - there's none of this gunfire-going-all-around-you-and-if-you-stand-up-you-die type thing. It severly detracts from atmosphere.

Personally, I enjoy FFUR/SLX mod far more than Arma.

[lee_h._oswald 0]

For me OFP is better, because I was able to play it from DAY1.

It's about time that BIS is going to fix all those stupid bugs and the damned GF8800 FOG BUG!

Fix those bugs and I can finally enjoy ArmA.

Or do I/we have to wait for ArmA II.

MfG Lee ..

[mr reality 0]

From the perspective of single player.

OFP was new and fresh when it was released way back in 2001, Arma is the exact same game except for better grahics (if you think differantly your kidding yourself). I think a a few of us are just a tiny bit bored of the exact same feel to a game we've been playing for six years, with no real advance in any of the aspects of this so called simulation.

We have the exact same squad controls, vehicle hit damage and soldier hit damage and IMHO they should of been priority changes.

It's not realy about why OFP was better because it isn't, it's just that Arma was and is a real let down for a lot of people.

Don't get me wrong, i still very much enjoy the community and i hope to see it grow and produce some awsome mods but after six years, we still depend on the community to make this game better.

I would love to be able to buy a game from BIS that only required one or maybe two patches and that i would be satisfied with the original content, but even with the oncoming of ArmA2 i doubt this would be the case.

I personaly would of been happier if Arma had of just been what the cold war rearmed mod is going to be, and it was released as a kind of paid for update. At least i would of known what i was getting and wouldnt of been letdown by the end result.

[icehollow 0]

I have been playing ArmA for a long time now, but when I go back and play OPF I still have more fun. I'm trying to understand what factors make this happen:

Performance: I get much better performance in OPF for obvious reasons. I don't have to battle rapid and jerky FPS transitions that happen very common in ArmA. I've explained this affect before. I may be getting 75 FPS, then turn to a developed or wooded area and the FPS drops to 25-30. 25-30 is still decent, but the sudden transitions causes very jerky performance.

I still have not had any major time playing in the North Sahrani. Because the level of performance even on an 8800, makes it mostly unplayable. When I'm designing a mission or playing official or user-made missions, I have to specifically avoid missions in the North. There aren't any such "no-go" zones in OPF. In a way the performance problems are limiting my freedom of action and movement which is what makes OPF so fun. That leads me to the second area.

Maps: Sahrani and all the ArmA islands are a noticeable improvement over OPF ones in terms of detail and complexity, particularly in urban areas. However, what made the OPF islands better in my opinion was much more wide open and flat terrain. This gave a more realistic feeling. In ArmA islands geographic features are too close together, unrealistically. You no longer have the huge wide open spaces that you did in OPF, which gave a better feeling of scale. They just felt more realistic because transitions were always smooth and gradual. In Sahrani, political ideology seems to make geography change and even gives you distinct species of grass with no overlap.

While the Urban detail in ArmA and the size of cities is larger this is not a positive thing. Let me explain. The size of cities in ArmA has improved but not the AI to really let you utilize them. The AI works much better in the small, spread out villages of OPF. That's another thing that ArmA lacks, the small but large number of small villages. There may be some in the North, but as I said earlier performance issues makes me avoid the North.

Other Issues: The third major issue is that the graphical and game-play faults of OPF are/were acceptable. These were acceptable limitations of video game technology when OPF was released. ArmA has improved much graphically over OPF, but it makes the little faults stick out that much more. No vehicle entry/exist animations seem to bother me a lot more with better graphics, then they do in OPF.

This is still an incomplete list, there is/was something about OPF that made it more fun. And it seems to be a fairly common sentiment in these forums. I don't want this thread to be about complaining about ArmA or ranting about issues. I don't want it to be like the ArmA disappointment thread either. Instead, I intend for this to be a constructive comparison between OPF and ArmA.

Try dropping your graphics back to normal , I have a so so 7600GT , you have a monster fucking 8800 , yet I do not get major FPS drops when I go into forested areas.

[kavoven 4]

There is one thing many people don't think about:

OFP was something new. It was like the first love you'll never forget. And even if there will be 100 more games like OFP, it will always be the best one.

I experienced the same with MMORPGs. The first one I played was WoW. Since then I tried many others, but I always returned to WoW. Other players who started with other games returned to the games they played first. And so on.

[whisper 0]

From the perspective of single player.

OFP was new and fresh when it was released way back in 2001, Arma is the exact same game except for better grahics (if you think differantly your kidding yourself).

I'm so convinced by this completely demonstrative argument

"I'm right because you're wrong".

[Average Joe 0]

OFP 1.96 with FFUR/SLX vs Vanilla ArmA?

OFP 110%, I dont care much for Graphics but I've never once experienced the same indepth gameplay, tense times and awesome action in ArmA then to what I did in OFP.

I hope ArmA 2 redeems my faith.

[Zadoff1880 0]

Not "what", - "who" - The US producers did - The CODEMASTERS!!! OFP 2 will be the game of the century!  

[Shadow NX 1]

Somehow i have the feeling that this OFP2 will be pretty different from what you expect.

But its pretty weird anyway to say a game is better that noone yet seen any game footage of, so far i only saw a rendered movie and a few screens that didnt blow me away.

Yet i know ArmA is already not bad and if ArmA2 is based on it with all the improvements ive seen so far in videos then my money is on ArmA2.

But its like a ape once said, Everyone got a different taste ( and then he bit in the soap ).

Besides i think the only better thing with Codemasters publishing ArmA would have been a better marketing campaign.

[da12thMonkey 1943]

Not "what", - "who" - The US producers did - The CODEMASTERS!!! OFP 2 will be the game of the century!

Codemasters is a British company...

As for what made OFP better; nowt in my opinion.

Most of my SP experience of both games is spent in the editor making half-arsed missions, and that's pretty much stayed the same between the two games.

Back when I played it on my old system, OFP ran at pretty low FPS, even though I far outstripped the recommended specs. I find ArmA runs better, with higher unit numbers, viewdistance and world detail than I was ever able to playably achieve in OFP, so the scale and variety of missions I'm able to make for myself to play has improved greatly.

Multiplayer in ArmA is a lot better than it was in OFP, given JIP and the overall improvement in the netcode. I hardly ever played OFP online due to poor framerate and frequent desync which made hitting anything very difficult. I've had so much fun online in ArmA with properly admined servers though.

Only thing I miss from OFP is the way the community was. I started playing OFP in 2003 I think, so by that time there already were loads of addons, and people were used to OFP's problems and limitations so spent their time actually playing the game and making stuff for it. The sheer amount of wholly awesome stuff we managed to put together as a community was what made that game for me, and is the reason why I still hesitate to uninstall it: Every so often I want to just jump inside CBT's Bradleys or Footmunch's F-15s or somet and zip about on BAS Tonal for 10 minutes or so.

I can't wait for the whole ArmA addonmaking thing to really take off. I know from my own experimentation and discussion of the tools, that so much more is possible with ArmA. Having seen some of some of the stuff that people in the community are up to behind the scenes, I'm already pretty excited by the prospect, and I haven't even played with any of it yet.

RHS's T-64 that came out the other day reminded me of all those good times in OFP when a beautiful piece of work came out of the community and I was happy just toying with it for a few days. I cannot wait for more days like that.

[NoRailgunner 0]

1. Codemasters is headquartered in UK.

Quote[/b] ]UK publisher and developer Codemasters has opened a new studio in Guildford, Surrey....The new studio will first be collaborating with the other two offices on projects including Race Driver One and Operation Flashpoint 2, and expand to start developing its own intellectual properties from 2008.

2. Only pics and videos don't really show all of ArmA2 or OFP2 - it's mostly marketing/advertising stuff. Judging by this stuff only - is imho naiv/blue-eyed.

3. Most got first addicted because of story and campaign and of course it was an brand-new combat simulation.

[Hostilian 11]

OFP is better than ArmA in the following respects.

- The fact that the setting or situation was believeable in OFP (Cold war setting). A fictional country and a fictional enemy in ArmA just doesnt add up. This as well as the fact that the campaigns weren't written by a pack of chimps, led to a much better atmosphere.

- The fact that 6 months after you bought the game, you didn't hear about a sequel due out the next year - EA Stylee.

- Less bl**dy frustrating AI.. The AI in OFP knew how to move from one point to another inland without deciding to go for a swim and lose all its gear. The AI's plus points in ArmA don't make up for its game-breaking negative points. This pushes it below OFP in my opinion.

- crCTI works properly..

- The fact that you couldnt destroy a tank with a MG.

Fix point 3 - and make it easier to fix 4 and they will have much less of an uphill struggle to try to sell me ArmA2.

#C

[DmenX3 0]

Whoa! OP I have an almost identical computer (graphics + processor is spot on) but I'm running XP with DX9. I can play on full settings (but I keep view distance on 3000 for realism) and it doesn't lag at all. It could be the Vista or maybe its the RAM (I have 3gigs of DDR2 RAM on Windows XP ) Anyways I think the lag probably has to do with memory access. Tune your computer, defrag, and increase the paging file....Every little bit helps

[MehMan 0]

Not "what", - "who" - The US producers did - The CODEMASTERS!!! OFP 2 will be the game of the century!  

Codemasters' part in OFP was as a publisher. They were not developers, IIRC they did help, but BI ofcourse did everything that mattered.

[Sevan 0]

Try dropping your graphics back to normal , I have a so so 7600GT , you have a monster fucking 8800 , yet I do not get major FPS drops when I go into forested areas.

My settings are on normal. As I said, the problem is not always low FPS, but rapid transitions between high and lower FPS.

[shark-attack 2]

Operation Flashpoint

===============

anomalous, best, exceptional, extraordinary, far out, incomparable, inimitable, matchless, most, nonpareil, novel, only, peerless, primo, rare, singular, something else, special, standout, strange, uncommon, unequalled, unexampled, unimaginable, unmatched, unparagoned, unparalleled, unprecedented, unreal, unrivaled, utmost, weird, NEW.

                                                                 

ARMA  

=====

like, similar, standard, trite, but missing that vital "just out" factor ....

personally i think id set my hopes too high, a bit like, say ... Jaws 2  3 and 4 ...  

[sluggCDN 0]

I don't know about you guys but I absolutely love the fact that now in ArmA we can destroy an APC with 6 hand grenades!!!! THIS IS SO COOL & EXTREMELY REALISTIC! I think BIS has finally delivered what we all been waiting for!

I think once Codemasters & BIS have parted the better half of the OFP dev team migrated to Codemasters. I just hope Codemasters are working on the kinda stuff in OFP2 that BIS was promising us in ArmA. Because as far as I can see now BIS is working on beautiful sunsets and bunny animations for ArmA2. BIS had all the chances to make ArmA a great game and they just repackaged and sold us a 6 year old product, with all original vanilla bugs from OFP ver.1.46 - Collectors Edition.

You just got to look at ArmA as a temp substitute till the Real Thing comes out in 2008. I just have a feeling BIS will always be BIS and ArmA2 will be another "ArmA" - lotsa hype & average final delivery. The time will tell, the ball is in Codemasters' court now... If anything ArmA2 can't be worse than ArmA.

[Sevan 0]

This thread is turning too much to into complaining about ArmA. Keep it to a comparison of the two games. OPF isn't "better" because ArmA is disappointing.

[sluggCDN 0]

@ Sevan

you are right it was largely off topic. I don't think OFP is better. I completely agree with SickBoy - if you disregard the absence of SP campaign in ArmA it offers a quality new "feel" especially in MP. Yet since a FPS player experiences a game through its character control system, ArmA hasn't progress very far from OFP in that respect; it's OFP 1.5. From the point of view of MP gameplay it's miles ahead of OFP, better suited for MP gaming. However it regressed in a few other areas of gamplay if compared with OFP. In OFP many shortcomings could have been blamed on the fact that there weren't technologies available in 2000 to fully realized OFP's revolutionary features. Today many of ArmA shortcomings are simple oversight on dev's part since the technologies are available and could have been used (as they are in many other games).

Here is my personal opinion about OFP vs ArmA. As many ppl said already OFP was a true breakthrough for its days. It helped to create and shape up a brand new genre. OFP was revolutionary. But in this world of ever evolving technologies a game cannot last for 6 years. It's bound to become obsolete just by virtue of the technologies used in it. ArmA hardly offers a brand new gameplay experience if compared to OFP (it has different feel, not exeprience). In some respest it's plain worse like the vehicle damage system that lets you disable an APC (BMP2) with 2-3 hand grenades. Modding is what really keeping ArmA afloat now. The FFAMM mod is the proof to it. It brings so much atmosphere into the game. Interesting how devs fail to realize this one point that graphics aren't everything in such a game as ArmA. It's amazing what FFAMM managed to accomplish with just a set of new sounds, tracers and explosion effects.

So overall ArmA is better, but the novelty will VERY SOON wear off since it's only based on somewhat new graphics engine. Once ppl play it enough and get used to the graphics all other bugs will start surfacing and become too aparent. And ArmA has too many bugs which can easily offset whatever positive experience it evoked initially through its updated graphics. ArmA has all the bugs vanilla OFP had and quite a few more introduced along with the new technology. OFP was a far BETTER polished product when it was released than ArmA. But as a game ArmA still manages to surpass OFP.

[Dallas 9]

Memory always seem to soften things a bit. I can hardly recall OFP had any serious bugs at it's release, as I hardly ever recall all the CTDs I had with ArmA a year ago. OFP had serious bugs too and I had my share of crashes with ArmA, but that's  not my main focus point anymore.

ArmA is the same as OFP, but different. Some like the difference, some don't, but whether you do or you don't, ArmA like OFP comes with the ability to add your own preferences to the game. You have to like the original gameplay though. I use a custom face skin, sound mod and replacement pack.

You could argue that BIS should have put other weapon sounds, uniform patterns in from the start, but it's difficult to sadisfy everyones needs, just look at the replacement packs: Flecktarn, Multicam, MARPAT, DPM ect. The BIS way allow you to add your own touch very easily.

...And hey you can disable a real light armoured vehicle with continued MG fire or several handgrenades, APCs aren't invincible you know. It's ok that you have tested the dammage model in the editor, but if you leave an APC in the enemy's mercy without close support, you're asking for trouble.

[sluggCDN 0]

@Dallas

do you know that u can also destroy Abrams with 10-15 fragmentation hand grenades? Now thats realism! Since BIS did such extensive studies on modern militry equipment and used it in ArmA we can firmly say Abrams doesn't seemed to be as might any more!

[Sevan 0]

You're right that the armor damage system is not very realistic in ArmA, because there is no penetration calculation involved. But It's largely no different then it was in OPF.

[Dallas 9]

@Dallas

do you know that u can also destroy Abrams with 10-15 fragmentation hand grenades? Now thats realism! Since BIS did such extensive studies on modern militry equipment and used it in ArmA we can firmly say Abrams doesn't seemed to be as might any more!

I'd say the tank crew that allow a person to throw 15 greades at them, deserves what they get. A player tank crew would never allow this to happen and using this as a tactic against AIs, I consider an exploit. I'm not saying I could disable a real life M1A1 with fifthteen frag grenades, but if it where just standing there defenseless, who knows if I were able to do some damage.

I've never seem this practised in coop ever and what can you do against a comatose tank in the editor, does not count for much in my book.

[celery 8]

@Dallas

do you know that u can also destroy Abrams with 10-15 fragmentation hand grenades? Now thats realism! Since BIS did such extensive studies on modern militry equipment and used it in ArmA we can firmly say Abrams doesn't seemed to be as might any more!

I'd say the tank crew that allow a person to throw 15 greades at them, deserves what they get. A player tank crew would never allow this to happen and using this as a tactic against AIs, I consider an exploit. I'm not saying I could disable a real life M1A1 with fifthteen frag grenades, but if it where just standing there defenseless, who knows if I were able to do some damage.

I've never seem this practised in coop ever and what can you do against a comatose tank in the editor, does not count for much in my book.

Yeah, that tank simply deserves to die just like a player stuck in a running animation when he wants to go prone or when an enemy surprises him reloading when he can't move. Afterall, this game is all about realism and realism means that you automatically die if you take a risk. Right?

So nothing to fix here.

[sickboy 13]

People don't have anything better to do than exploit heaps in the engine?

If you don't feel that throwing handgrenades at a tank and dammaging it, is realistic. Then why do you do it?  

I mean, let's grow up right?

About the "BIS studied all the technology but it seems they have been sleeping" kinda crap; From an interview:

"We are no military experts and we have not tried to make everything as real as possible, we are gamers and ArmA is a game".

In the eye/mouth of the public, ArmA is regarded as (or should be) a realistic combat simulator. And maybe the box-art on some releases says so too (maybe other advertisement too?), but geez, get over the armor system for crying out loud