Latest ArmA2 & ArmA2:OA Press Coverage | NO discussion here!

[-Snafu- 77]

Thanks for the preview, Foxhound and Rock. It was nice to see ArmA 2 from people who know ArmA and OFP.

[maddogx 13]

Great stuff Fox/Rock! The game seems to be shaping up better than expected, especially the AI part was interesting. Definitely looking forward to May 29th, now more than ever.

[MehMan 0]

Oh yeah, thanks Rock and Fox!

A lot more insight than your average preview.

[Raptor 10]

Great stuff Fox/Rock! The game seems to be shaping up better than expected, especially the AI part was interesting. Definitely looking forward to May 29th, now more than ever.

You forget that again we will get the bad, totally buggy and totally terrible ArmA2 version as result of the dumb treatment of morphicon with BIS or other way around. :( Again we can play the dumb users for BIS/morphicon, but hey BIS will see how the german version will catch on the german press.

[S!fkaIaC 10]

Ok, the biggest bug we know in advance is that the 3D ingame editor does not work. :D

BTW, important for all MP freaks: is the dedicated linux server included?

I change my mind and would call this the biggest bug if not included:)

[maddogx 13]

You forget that again we will get the bad, totally buggy and totally terrible ArmA2 version as result of the dumb treatment of morphicon with BIS or other way around. :( Again we can play the dumb users for BIS/morphicon, but hey BIS will see how the german version will catch on the german press.

True, and in my opinion it was a very bad move to release the DE version early und "less finished". I can see a lot of bad German reviews heading our way. Morphicon would've done better to push it back to June 19th and release simultaneously with the 505 version, but I guess it's too late for that now.

I personally don't have a problem getting the game on May 29th and playing it until it's patched up. I guess anyone who doesn't want to go through that could just wait for the 505 release. ;)

[Shadow NX 1]

Amazing, so the bit earlier version we get will be totally worse from the 505 one, how did you know that, did you play both versions already?

Lets wait for the release day and then you can still moan if the german version is really that bad.

Im sure it will be bit less polished but i dont think it will be a totally bug infested thing while the 505 is perfectly polished.

Im still unsure myself if i wait for the german SE or the 505 release... in the end i guess the old OFP / ArmA fan in me will urge me to visit a game store end of this months... im weak ^^

[=BIA=Freisar 10]

I see screen graphic setting with Postprocess set to low, but i see the bloom is active (?!..not sure), i hope this (irrealistic) effect is possible turn off.....

[sandzibar 0]

how about the AI voice system? was the promised revised (and less robotic) version implemented in the 505 demo?

[Raptor 10]

so the bit earlier version we get will be totally worse from the 505 one, how did you know that, did you play both versions already?

No ,but I know ArmA, I know Morpicon and ofcause you know all these facts and that facts, that dejavú give ma a bad feeling.

[Maddmatt 1]

Amazing, so the bit earlier version we get will be totally worse from the 505 one, how did you know that, did you play both versions already?...

Hehe yea. The 505 version comes out only 2 weeks after the German version. Not a huge difference, at least compared to ArmA 1. So I can't imagine the two versions being very different. 505 version will probably be labelled v1.01 with a patch following after its release to get all versions equal.

[maddogx 13]

how about the AI voice system? was the promised revised (and less robotic) version implemented in the 505 demo?

I'd like to know this too.

[Scrub 0]

This is from Jason, Tactical Gamer:

This brings me to the sound quality. After multiple and impressive sound mod releases for Arma 1, fans will be pleased with all audio in Arma 2. From engine start ups, weapon reloads, aircraft flybys, it is all in there and adds to the immersion of living and breathing in Arma 2’s world.[/Quote]

From Twitter:

@ArmA2PC Are the speech/commands improved over arma1 - do they still sound unnatural/robotic?

Yes, there is a HUGE improvement and we also have the dynamic conversation system this time [/Quote]

Edited May 22, 2009 by Scrub

[paragraphic l 2]

Great article guys! Thanks for the effort in writing it so detailed.

One question while reading through it though.

Interface

Again an obvious change: The interface. Its not exactly radical change but it was enough that both Foxhound and I were caught out by the lack of an action menu on the right hand side. After a brief embarrassing moment searching we found it on the left. The context menus are also relocated to the left middle of the screen but are now mouse clickable rather than just accessible via keypress.

On most parts through the article you tell what you think about the features, here you don't. Did it work better or worse than the original interface, as I can imagine you losing control over your character during the moment you have the action menu in sight.

[maddogx 13]

@Scrub,

that's all well and good, but not exactly solid info. Quote #1 doesn't mention the voices and quote #2 simply says it's improved, which doesn't really say much. I'd like to hear what Foxhound and Rock thought of the new radio chatter.

[Alex72 1]

yeah true. If its mouse click and not scroll-middle mouse-click you cant turn etc when using that menu? Good point Pragraphic. Would also want to hear this one.

[sandzibar 0]

@Scrub,

that's all well and good, but not exactly solid info. Quote #1 doesn't mention the voices and quote #2 simply says it's improved, which doesn't really say much. I'd like to hear what Foxhound and Rock thought of the new radio chatter.

exactly this... plus werent all the twitter responses from 505/BIS employee's? id prefere to hear what the testing community thought. rather that possible marketing speel :D

[ziiip 1]

72;1287931']yeah true. If its mouse click and not scroll-middle mouse-click you cant turn etc when using that menu? Good point Pragraphic. Would also want to hear this one.

Now you can use the cursor too or scroll though the menus as before. That is what the text says. :P

[Guest]

72;1287931']yeah true. If its mouse click and not scroll-middle mouse-click you cant turn etc when using that menu? Good point Pragraphic. Would also want to hear this one.

After I figured out where the menu went :D I still used the scrollwheel to select the option of my choice. I never used the mouse to point and click so I can not say what happens when you put the mouse over the menu.

@Scrub' date='

that's all well and good, but not exactly solid info. Quote #1 doesn't mention the voices and quote #2 simply says it's improved, which doesn't really say much. I'd like to hear what Foxhound and Rock thought of the new radio chatter.[/quote']

As I posted earlier we did not play that much, and if we played (although I would not call it playing, it was more testing) we were talking to the dev's at the same time or between eachoter so I did not concentrate on any sounds in the game.

However I have been thinking about the demonstration and in there we saw the player (Jan) command his units and from what I remember the "get in that humvee" sounded not as robotic as Armed Assault. If I am correct it went pretty fluid, like a spoken sentence instead of "connected words".

Also during the demo I was explaining some dutch game TV program guys what they were actually looking at as they had no clue. So I was a bit occupied :)

But maybe Rock recalls some more details about this.

[sandzibar 0]

If I am correct it went pretty fluid, like a spoken sentence instead of "connected words".

Well that sounds promising. Thanks.

[S!fkaIaC 10]

@Fox&Rock: Any info about dedicated server? Windows only or also a Linux version?

[Bush 0]

Shaz73 posted this ArmA2 preview in the DR forum:

http://www.videogamer.com/pc/arma_2/preview-1736-1.html

Edit: Fixed it walker :)

Edited May 22, 2009 by Bush

[walker 0]

Shaz73 posted this ArmA2 preview in the DR forum:

http://www.videogamer.com/pc/arma_2/preview-1736-2.html

Hi all

Better to start on page one ;)

http://www.videogamer.com/pc/arma_2/preview-1736.html

Hmm very pro ArmA preview.

At least this guy is not an ego shooter numpty and knows some basic tactics, too many run and gun Leet nubes try to play ArmA and get scared outa their pants.

The ArmAholic post seems to have expanded

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=5694

Lots more pictures and text from the 505 Games preview.

Kind Regards walker

Edited May 22, 2009 by walker

[Scrub 0]

Rated 23 out of ~10000 on that site.. Not bad.

[Guest RKSL-Rock]

how about the AI voice system? was the promised revised (and less robotic) version implemented in the 505 demo?

As Foxhound said, we didn't really spend much time listening to the sounds we were too busy discussing what and how to test as well as listening to the dev's explain the features.

BUT, the bits i did hear were far more realistic, fluid and organic feeling. it sounded more conversational than anything ive heard from ArmA or OFP before.

exactly this... plus werent all the twitter responses from 505/BIS employee's? id prefere to hear what the testing community thought. rather that possible marketing speel :D

The twitter posts did come from the 505 guys but they did ask our opinions at the time. At several points Barmyarmy, Jason, Foxhound and myself were quoted on there. But there was a lot of confusion at some points. The mention of the 3D editor is one. Whoever answered that didnt really understand what was being asked.

Amazing, so the bit earlier version we get will be totally worse from the 505 one, how did you know that, did you play both versions already?

Lets wait for the release day and then you can still moan if the german version is really that bad.

Im sure it will be bit less polished but i dont think it will be a totally bug infested thing while the 505 is perfectly polished.

Im still unsure myself if i wait for the german SE or the 505 release... in the end i guess the old OFP / ArmA fan in me will urge me to visit a game store end of this months... im weak ^^

I did ask about the German vs 505 release standard, I wasnt told exact differences just that the 505 version contained the latest fixes where as the German version was a slightly earlier build. They also said that while BIS did expect to patch the game early in its 'life' unless something huge came to light these patches should fix relatively minor issues. They were quietly confident that we wouldn't experience the pain we went through with ArmA1.

Great article guys! Thanks for the effort in writing it so detailed.

One question while reading through it though.

On most parts through the article you tell what you think about the features, here you don't. Did it work better or worse than the original interface, as I can imagine you losing control over your character during the moment you have the action menu in sight.

I suppose i didnt comment because I didn't really notice to be honest. You could take that either way. Maybe I didn't notice how it worked because it immediately felt natural? Or I didn't notice because it wasn't a huge impact on the game. So either way itsnot a negative thing really. Apart from the giving some AIs a few commands I didn't really experiment much with them.

On the subject of how the mouse menu control works: they behave like windows context menus or the Start Menu on your task bar. They pop up when you click the appropriate entry. You can select from the options that are relevant at that time and one you make a selection they collapse again. Your "RPG" conversation options are controlled in the say way i think.

@Fox&Rock: Any info about dedicated server? Windows only or also a Linux version?

No sorry. When i was talking about MP aspects with one of the 505 guys he didnt have a answer to that and Jan/James form BIS were busy elsewhere. I forgot to ask the question again later.

The ArmAholic post seems to have expanded

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=5694

Lots more pictures and text from the 505 Games preview.

LMAO, that hasnt changed at all. Thats the article we've all been discussing for 24 hours. Which one have you been looking at? :j: