ARMA 2 DE 1.01 (final) Impressions - Post ALL Impressions/Videos/Screenies Here

[yarex 0]

I'v been playing Operation Flashpoint and Arma, so Arma2 was a must for me.

My really first impressions after 5 hours of playing:

If i have to compare those games Arma2 is the best of all three.

Ignore complainers, the game is awesome and i didn't expect so big improvement.

My rig: Intel C2D 6400, Nvidia 8800 gtx 256, 2GB RAM

Game runs smoothly on 1024x768 with shadows turned off, object detail on max, terrain detail on low, other gfx parameters on medium.

Fillrate 100%. Postprocessing high. Anisotropic filtering high.

I'v tried higher resolution and settings, but then i get a lot of Blur when turning, so was smooth, but unplayable and i had hard time to kill anything.

(this is not a complain, my rig is at bottom line of min recommended config.)

Here are things that i like:

+ Graphics is really nice, when all settings maxed on a strong hardware its and eye candy when compared to ofp and arma

+ AI - so much improvement. Is more active and not just standing, it's taking cover, searching for enemy. Sometimes has troubles with pathrouting especially drivers but in general it's much better then in arma

+ Cars are similar to arma. In higher speeds are a little bit trickier to handle and stay on the road, but i like them

+ Tanks.... haven't yet chance to try

+ Helis - flying models are yet better then in Arma. Also one has to be more carefull about trees and tall things, because is easy to hit them and explode.

Helis are easy to fly and control. I yet have to try and fight with them.

+ Jets.... I hated flying them in arma, because they were very uncontrolable with my keyboard and tricky to hit target. (might be my low skill with them)

Now in Arma2 i like them more. It's easier to stay in air and to maneur and i have a feeling that are more tolerable to bad handling. It's a little bit easier to aim a target and stay focused on it.

+ The game is fun to play. Armory mode, campaign, etc. will get you to play again and again. I can't yet say anything about multiplayer because i didn't try it yet.

Things that i dislike:

- Most of the time i didn't know who killed me. Kill replay would be nice thing to have.

-When AI was my driver, sometimes had problems to drive around obstacles (buildings and etc.), probably a bug in AI routing

-Blur when turning and moving should be imho removed or atleast toned down. (head bobing was turned off in my settings)

- two cores processor is a real minimum from my experience and with lower gfx settings game looks more like arma.

Average box to play will be 4 cores and 500-1000mb gfx card similar to 8800 and faster.

These were my first impressions, i have to yet get into details and dedicate more time to this awesome game.

[dvolk 10]

Yeah, i noticed that too. It's cause they watch videos on youtube of ArmA 2, then Google ArmA 2, find the website, then find the forum, then download an illegal copy thinking it will be totally awesome, best game in the world, with no bugs and complain that they got ripped off (because of the ingame protectiong FADE which works really well) like Maddmatt said.

Watch your words, knave. I had very clear expectations from ArmA 2, I bought it on faith and found it wanting; am I not justified to complain?

Many here are doing themselves a huge disservice. By ignoring the awful state BIS releases their games in, you're telling them it's OK if almost nothing works like it should. This is the wrong message to send.

Edited June 3, 2009 by dvolk

[-Total- 0]

With the exception of some horrific arcade titles, I have not purchased a bug free game in the past four years. The simpler the content, the fewer bugs generally. Not always the case the case though.

DCS Blackshark was a great surprise as, even though it has it's bugs, they were much fewer than expected. Would have been nice had they made it so you couldn't fly through trees in that game (yes, you can fly through trees without any damage in DCS Blackshark). Been there since Lock On was released in 2003. Of Course, Blackshark was under development since ArmA was first released. So, we waited a good bit longer on that one.

I fully expect to make a bug list as long as my arm with ArmAII.

It's a very in depth game with an immense amount of calculations occuring simultaneously at any given micro-second. From what I have been hearing from people I know who have it and reading across this and other forums, it's seeing a far more stable and playable release than ArmA did. ArmA v1.05 caused half the people in my clan who bought to reformat. Out of the ten of us who bought the first ArmA, only 3 of use were able to play it before the 1.08 patch.

So, ArmAII has bugs and it has more than 4 or 5. Big deal. I plan on playing the game for the next four years as I did ArmA. Gives them a while to fix it and gives me new things to look forward to. I'll post the bugs in feedback format as I discover them. That helps the dev's alot more than whining or complaining.

Remember, even OFP had it's share of bugs. Remember the 1.96 patch released in 2005 (same year ArmA was released)? Look at the "FIXED portions of that patch ;) http://operationflashpoint.filefront.com/file/Operation_Flashpoint_Resistance_Patch;35465

[sickboy 13]

I'm very impressed with the game, even though it has its bugs.

We've been playing coop nearly every day since the German release. Patch 1.01 Beta did a nice job, much thanks for that. In anticipation of the next patch...

Anyway, had some really amazing coops. All the small and bigger changes/enhancements really make for an immersive and adrenaline experience!

It's so much fun to have like 1:3 Player:AI ratio, instead of 1:10 or even higher!

Heck even having AI on your side or in your team has improved over A1.

Night missions seem to be totally awesome, AI seems to handle NVG/NO NVG and SD / NO SD quite well at night!

Performance aint too bad, some ctd's / video memory issues, but non which severely impact our online games atm.

Lot's of new scripting commands and improved engine parts...

This is already a nice platform and im sure it will only grow and grow beyond that in the months and years to come.

Thank you BIS! Though slap for the naughty German Publisher early release ;)

Here's a short video showing what happens when you use the Surrender Game Logic.

It seems they try to retreat when they're in trouble anyway, it's just the surrender bit that the logic enables.

Just a shame that you can't question prisoners about enemy Troop movements and such, yet. :p

An interesting question is raised in the comments of that video...

If a soldier surrender will it trigger a 'no enemy remains' trigger? hmm

When the AI surrenders, he is set to "Captive", in A2 a Captive unit changes side to civilian.

Thus they will not show up as SIDE (west/east/guer) PRESENT, and should end missions properly.

And indeed, no synchronization necessary. Fleeing units will automatically be processed by the Surrendering system, if the gamelogic is placed.

Edited June 3, 2009 by Sickboy

[maddogx 13]

Watch your words, knave. I had very clear expectations from ArmA 2, I bought it on faith and found it wanting; am I not justified to complain?

Many here are doing themselves a huge disservice. By ignoring the awful state BIS releases their games in, you're telling them it's OK if almost nothing works like it should. This is the wrong message to send.

So you think BIS doesn't know about the bugs in the game, and won't fix them unless we spam the forums with angry rants? People like me who have been having a blast playing the game should not be saying so, because then big bad BIS will think everything is a-okay? Get the fuck off my lawn.

There are troubleshooting forums for a reason. There is also a bug tracker that is being considered for use by BIS. If you want to make a difference and make sure the devs see the problems you are experiencing, write about them there. Include repro-steps, example missions, DxDiags... anything that will help them fix the problems. If you don't want to do that because you don't want to be a "beta tester", then don't. Put the game on the shelf and wait six months.

I think we can all agree that the german version was rushed and still contains way too many bugs. Just give them the time to fix them and stop trying to drag everyone else into your misery.

[whisper 0]

Watch your words, knave. I had very clear expectations from ArmA 2, I bought it on faith and found it wanting; am I not justified to complain?

Many here are doing themselves a huge disservice. By ignoring the awful state BIS releases their games in, you're telling them it's OK if almost nothing works like it should. This is the wrong message to send.

The game having some bugs doesn't mean you need to "destroy" its reputation just to "warn BI". the game has far too many good points for ignoring them because of bug X (even though the blank AI bug is a very bad one, but I'm confident it'll be fixed in 1.02, ie for Euro release). The most glaring bugs, imho, won't be long to be fixed. I'm more concerned about annoying "features" not considered as bugs by BI (HDR handling, for example).

But in no way I'll shoot down the game because of this. There has been a tremendous amount of work done on the title, obviously, BI deserve praise far more than complaints on this one.

There is probably more bugs than usual games because simply, it's not an usual game. I'll always, always, support innovation over making the same game than everyone else, but better done. That's why I'll support BI-type company over CoD series or WoW, for example.

The only innovative game, rather bugfree, I've seen in the past years has been Portal, and I bought it like 2 years after release, so I don't know its initial state. As far as I saw it, it was a genious concept mixed with a perfect realisation. Now, the replayability was near zero, and I finished it in 1 night. Nothing compared to A2.

EDIT : the most constructive way for BI is to report bug, either in troubleshooting forum or in the community-made bugtracker, though I don't know if BI is really following this one (I hope they do, really). Not shooting down the game at each occasion you get in public forums.

Edited June 3, 2009 by whisper

[jaffo 0]

After reading dslyecxi's comments in his A2/TrackIR thread I was looking forward to A2 primarily as it sounded like the laggy/awkward movement had been altered. Unfortunately, it hasn't and it still plays like A1 where you feel like you're not quite in control of your character.

Deal breaker for me, regardless of any other improvements I'm afraid. Won't be buying.

PS. I will miss the A2 helicopters though when I'm playing OFP; they were fun to fly!

Edited June 3, 2009 by Jaffo

[maddogx 13]

After reading dslyecxi's comments in his A2/TrackIR thread I was looking forward to A2 primarily as it sounded like the laggy/awkward movement had been altered. Unfortunately, it hasn't and it still plays like A1 where you feel like you're not quite in control of your character.

That's complete and utter BS. Seriously, wait for the demo and try it for yourself, since you obviously haven't.

[whisper 0]

After reading dslyecxi's comments in his A2/TrackIR thread I was looking forward to A2 primarily as it sounded like the laggy/awkward movement had been altered. Unfortunately, it hasn't and it still plays like A1 where you feel like you're not quite in control of your character.

ROFL, and where do you get that from? Movement is nothing like ArmA, I feel like in OFP again

[Shadow NX 1]

Indeed, if theres one thing they made better its the controls because theres definatly lot less "lag" when aiming.

If you play on the training target range in ArmA and then ArmA2 you really should notice a difference.

[jaffo 0]

That's complete and utter BS. Seriously, wait for the demo and try it for yourself, since you obviously haven't.

Oh, I guess this 8GB folder on my HD is another game entirely then?

:j:

[whisper 0]

ah, FADE also breaks character control? :D

[mr_centipede 31]

Deal breaker for me, regardless of any other improvements I'm afraid. Won't be buying.

So do you or do you not have the game?

[sickboy 13]

Oh, I guess this 8GB folder on my HD is another game entirely then?

:j:

Time to find your problem then :) Patch 1.01 Beta? Latest Drivers? ~30 fps or higher? Tried changing the floating zone?

Edited June 3, 2009 by Placebo

[jaffo 0]

So do you or do you not have the game?

Borrowed a workmate's copy to try it out. Rest assured, I'll retry when the demo comes out but as this was never really improved in A1's patches, I can't see it altering much in A2.

It's the patched version btw, with the floating turned off and framerate's ok.

[whisper 0]

And what feels wrong to you? Cause for me it's really smooth

[dvolk 10]

But in no way I'll shoot down the game because of this. There has been a tremendous amount of work done on the title, obviously, BI deserve praise far more than complaints on this one.

The game does have its fun parts.

Interesting way to dress during a war

ArmA, or GTA?

Our Cooper isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer

We stole a car from a civilian in MP, and he decided to go with us

[boomar. 10]

From all the vids posted on youtube, my only concern is the robotic like radio voice stuff going on.

[MehMan 0]

It's half half really. In some cases it's pretty fluent, but in some odd ones it's like ArmA again.

[dmarkwick 261]

Deal breaker for me, regardless of any other improvements I'm afraid. Won't be buying.

Oh, I guess this 8GB folder on my HD is another game entirely then?

Borrowed a workmate's copy to try it out.

"Borrowed" a workmate's German downloaded install so soon after release? :)

Doesn't pass the sniff test. It is, however, a superb example of self-ownage :D

Edited June 3, 2009 by DMarkwick

[maddogx 13]

From all the vids posted on youtube, my only concern is the robotic like radio voice stuff going on.

Yup, that annoys me too. The words are emphasised incorrectly, so the sentences sound unnatural. It's very unfortunate. And weird, because it was always said that the new radio system would be much more natural than the old one. I personally don't see much improvement.

Also there is a bug that causes the AI to repeat certain radio commands over and over again :mad:. At least that will probably fixed soon.

[whisper 0]

I had exactly the same feeling watching videos, but it didn't really stand out as horrible once inside the campaign. Perhaps, once kind of immersed, you get over such issue

[jaffo 0]

And what feels wrong to you? Cause for me it's really smooth

It's most noticeable in CQC where you find your aim 'casting' about as it tries you keep up with you or when you are in a position and just trying to nudge your character around.

Actually, a good analogy would be if you think of games like Tomb Raider where one key press equated to moving one unit; I don't feel like the movement is subtle enough.

[whisper 0]

Shift + movement keys! ;)

[EricM 0]

Yes, robot voices are probably the worst part of the game so far.

Different filters, levels and tones in the same discussion is weird.

Apart from that the sound is globally very nice...