The Campaign - Absolutely Incredible

[Z-Nine 1]

I won't spoil anything here other than say that the campaign is well worth the hype. I'm having so much fun with it right now, I never expected to like the campaign this much. The open-ended aspect of it is a dream come true for me, and I can't wait to play it cooperatively with my friends once they get the game.

Never have I felt more immersed and involved in a war than in this game, the way your actions affect many things and outcomes and just the pure open-ended aspect of the campaign makes it almost infinitely replayable. The first few missions had left me believing that it was just another linear experience but, after completing them, I had realized that it was just a simple gateway/story starter for the free-roam parts of the game. If there is ever an expansion coming out for this game, and the campaign was similar to this, I would get it in a heartbeat no questions asked.

Bravo BI, and thank you so much for the gaming experience I had always wanted and dreamed about. - Also, if people have questions about the campaign, I am sure I can answer them... but I won't give away spoilers!

[NoxNoctum 10]

Awesome.

Great news after seeing the shitty looking OFP: DR gameplay vid that just came out. I needed a boost ;).

So can you go into details---as detailed as possible please---about how the open-endedness/dynamic campaign works? (without revealing the plot). Is it like OFP: Resistance where you just carry over equipment/soldiers between missions, or is it more like M1A2 Tank Platoon 2 (if you ever played it) where whole MISSIONS would be spawned from scratch depending on how well you did (actually a lot of turn based games as well have this). Or somewhere in between?

What are your impressions of the AI? Can your squad be relied on to carry out the job without too much micromanagement? How's the enemy AI?

Edited June 4, 2009 by NoxNoctum

[Nicholas 5]

The campaign is open-ended!?!?? Cool!!

I'v played a bit of the campaign and so far, it tops ArmA, and maybe OFP also.

[NoxNoctum 10]

I guess if you could just go into vivid details about how the dynamism plays out... maybe using examples slightly different from the ones in the campaign---if that makes sense ;). Thanks!

[Z-Nine 1]

Awesome.

Great news after seeing the shitty looking OFP: DR gameplay vid that just came out. I needed a boost ;).

So can you go into details---as detailed as possible please---about how the open-endedness/dynamic campaign works? (without revealing the plot). Is it like OFP: Resistance where you just carry over equipment/soldiers between missions, or is it more like M1A2 Tank Platoon 2 (if you ever played it) where whole MISSIONS would be spawned from scratch depending on how well you did (actually a lot of turn based games as well have this). Or somewhere in between?

What are your impressions of the AI? Can your squad be relied on to carry out the job without too much micromanagement? How's the enemy AI?

Well I haven't played through the campaign in it's entirety yet, so I don't know just how much previous missions affect the newer ones.. but I am sure it's actually quite a lot. You meet people, and you can decide to help them/do a mission for them or whatever, and you meet those people again later on and can help you with tasks, or give you advice or tip offs where an enemy position might be. You are given options like if you are ready to evac, or if you want to continue your mission.. which undoubtedly made the next mission a lot easier for me, but once you get into free mode, it seems like the collection of those first few linear missions and your actions really come to life then.

I have played a couple of the open-ended missions over and over a few times. There are some scripted, big story-driving events, but there are also things that I have witnessed to only happen once. For example [minor spoiler] an allied mi-17 helicopter had crashed in the map, and there were survivors, so the commander requests you go and rescue them. This only happened to me on one play through, when I restarted the mission, I never had any helicopter crashes happen again. I am assuming the crash REALLY did happen in the world, and that sparked a rescue operation for you to complete. It does not load a new mission when this happens - it's simply added to your task list, you have a list of tasks to accomplish over the area of operations, which is a huge huge chunk of the map. - You decide how to accomplish them, and in what order you want to do them.

Sometimes objectives give you moral decisions to make, which will affect things like how the civilian population's relation is towards you. The best way to put it, I never had the same experience twice on these open-ended missions (which last a long time, and you determine when and how they end).

The AI is a decent, you can definitely tell there has been an improvement. Sometimes AI still does stupid things, but most of the time I've been able to rely on my teammates to get things done on their own while I flank a position or whatever.

Enemy AI is also quite good, the biggest, and probably coolest thing for me was to see many enemies actually FLEE the battle after suffering heavy losses from my squad. - I went down into pursuit, only to run into a lot more enemies. I'm not sure if it was planned, but it turned out to be a pretty cool scenario. Sometimes when there are firefights near cities, you will see civilians run to cars and drive away as fast as they can and you will see some run to their houses, or just simply get off the roads and lay prone in backyards.

[NoxNoctum 10]

I have played a couple of the open-ended missions over and over a few times. There are some scripted, big story-driving events, but there are also things that I have witnessed to only happen once. For example [minor spoiler] an allied mi-17 helicopter had crashed in the map, and there were survivors, so the commander requests you go and rescue them. This only happened to me on one play through, when I restarted the mission, I never had any helicopter crashes happen again. I am assuming the crash REALLY did happen in the world, and that sparked a rescue operation for you to complete. It does not load a new mission when this happens - it's simply added to your task list, you have a list of tasks to accomplish over the area of operations, which is a huge huge chunk of the map. - You decide how to accomplish them, and in what order you want to do them.

Wow that sounds great. Thanks for the quick response.

I seem to remember a dev saying in a vid that there's only like 6 GIANT missions... is that accurate? From what you said it sounds like you're out in the field for far longer than in OFP (where everything was broken up into tiny bits... the campaign had a TON of fairly short missions and some longer ones)

What about stuff going on besides your squad... is there combat elsewhere? What happens if you join in? Do you ever have missions with large forces or is it always spec-ops style? I remember in OFP the atmosphere was so convincing that I was SURE that there were battles going on elsewhere outside my immediate mission area, of course this wasn't the case, but in ARMA 2 is it?

[call_911 10]

I was gonna post same thing. played coop campaign an memories of OFP casme flooding thru! An it is by know means even close to the ArmA1 campaign, totally differnt approach tactically imersive an feeling like OFP was!

Online played a lil bit in Germ fun.de an advancing towards an obj an ai actually stopped went prone right smack dab behin a tree for cover:butbut: Supressive fire was another surprise hence support by fire. I smell definate surprise hit for 09 an all the guys who put it down are just gonna miss out.

[Z-Nine 1]

Wow that sounds great. Thanks for the quick response.

I seem to remember a dev saying in a vid that there's only like 6 GIANT missions... is that accurate? From what you said it sounds like you're out in the field for far longer than in OFP (where everything was broken up into tiny bits... the campaign had a TON of fairly short missions and some longer ones)

What about stuff going on besides your squad... is there combat elsewhere? What happens if you join in? Do you ever have missions with large forces or is it always spec-ops style? I remember in OFP the atmosphere was so convincing that I was SURE that there were battles going on elsewhere outside my immediate mission area, of course this wasn't the case, but in ARMA 2 is it?

There is a war going on outside just where you are, it's not just where you think it's happening... it is ACTUALLY happening. I've never felt more part of a war. I've walked through forests and stuff looking for enemy camps, and in the distance hear firefights break out among friendly/enemy troops. I usually rush in and try to assist my allies (whoever they may be) and eliminate the threat. The benefit of this is that the friendly unit you saved will continue with their patrol or mission, and can serve as a fall back position for you if things get too heavy. If you lose an area to enemy forces it only makes things harder for you.

I'm not sure on how many free-roam missions there are.. so far, I am only on my 2nd free-roam mission and have yet to complete it. They last me a while, and I always find myself reverting the mission just to get a new experience out of it, and hopefully do things more efficiently.. as I tend to screw things up/kill the wrong people :p heh

[NoxNoctum 10]

How big are these battles?

Like skirmishes with 2-3 squads a side as in OFP or are there ever any company size battles?

thanks again, I'm totally pumping you for info hehe.

[Z-Nine 1]

How big are these battles?

Like skirmishes with 2-3 squads a side as in OFP or are there ever any company size battles?

thanks again, I'm totally pumping you for info hehe.

The majority of the time they are smaller skirmishes. I think the biggest battles you will see are when operation missions are initialized - Though I am not that much in the campaign, so there is a very real possibility that battles will get bigger later on. So far the biggest battle I've encountered that wasn't on the semi-linear missions were a couple of t-72 enemy tanks, a decent amount of enemy infantry, and an enemy armoured transport versus 1 TOW Humvee, 1 M1A2, and, again, a decent amount of infantry. It was quite massive over the expanse of an outskirt of a city. Nothing company size, but something to respect none-the-less as it was an unscripted event.

[Taconic 0]

Great post. I've been asking these questions for days and this is the first detailed explanation I've seen of the campaign. Thanks.

A couple questions, though.

-How persistent is the world? If a building is destroyed in one mission, does it stay destroyed for the whole campaign? What about people that are killed?

-Without giving away too many details... Does the player have the option to disregard his orders and perhaps join up with the rebels? In other words, just how open is it?

Your posts have made me look forward to it more than I already have been.

[Z-Nine 1]

-How persistent is the world? If a building is destroyed in one mission, does it stay destroyed for the whole campaign? What about people that are killed?

I actually haven't blown up too many buildings to experiment with this, I will have to try it out and find out. - But important people who die will stay dead.

-Without giving away too many details... Does the player have the option to disregard his orders and perhaps join up with the rebels? In other words, just how open is it?

I have not tried joining up with the rebels or anything along those lines, and I am not sure it is possible.. I doubt that it is. (they don't have much appreciation for americans!) That is something else I will have to experiment with though as far as going against the flow of things is.. but I have completed 'missions' and have not done all the tasks asked of me. You are also able to make decisions on some objectives that will disobey some orders.

[Taconic 0]

Cool. Thanks for the info.

[NoxNoctum 10]

I think the biggest battles you will see are when operation missions are initialized.

What's that?

[Z-Nine 1]

What's that?

I meant like story-driving missions ones that are separate from open-ended missions, an assault on a city that you partake in, stuff similar to that.

[ziiip 1]

Haveng you guys experianced the "lagging" anims?

And by that I mean this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pWBHa1XYUw

[Z-Nine 1]

Haveng you guys experianced the "lagging" anims?

And by that I mean this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pWBHa1XYUw

Not once have I ran into this. Perhaps it is an earlier version bug? If not, I've just been lucky I suppose. No issues with animations thus far for me!

[ziiip 1]

Not once have I ran into this. Perhaps it is an earlier version bug? If not, I've just been lucky I suppose. No issues with animations thus far for me!

1.01 here.

Lucky you! :D

[Alex72 1]

Its said that you might/or will end up using the hi-command function somewhere in the campaign. Now hearing that you can command as many troops/vehicles and whatever you want at the same time... Yes i forsee big battles. :)

And i would think Hi-Command is like being a squad leader just that you can switch into "another" GUI and order large troops around and still be in the middle of it fighting.

Regards

Alex

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

your descriptions of the campaign, added with the mp capability, has really got me excited! :bounce3:

I am impatient waiting for my pre-order to be released and shipped, however I love June weather and I dont want it to end soon!

[Z-Nine 1]

1.01 here.

Lucky you! :D

Is it possible your english patch initialized FADE? If not.. I hope another patch comes soon to remedy your problem!

72;1297480']Its said that you might/or will end up using the hi-command function somewhere in the campaign. Now hearing that you can command as many troops/vehicles and whatever you want at the same time... Yes i forsee big battles. :)

And i would think Hi-Command is like being a squad leader just that you can switch into "another" GUI and order large troops around and still be in the middle of it fighting.

And with Hi-Command, you don't control the other units like they are your own squad - you can still be commanding a squad, and still have Hi-Command available. It sends you into a map, and you can control large unit movements that way, or simple point and click - I haven't done this in campaign yet, but I have learned about it in the training for the game. Edit (adding more): It works very much like the map editor in a way. You can add waypoints, set their awareness level, movement speed, etc. It's pretty cool, and if it is implemented in the campaign as you say, I can't wait to get to that part! :D

[ziiip 1]

Yep, I was thinking the same to I put back the original stuff and loaded the game right after, but no change. I noticed that the anims become smooth after a while, really weird. :D

[Razorman 10]

Fade only initializes if the .exe file has been modified, not the other files.

Otherwise mods would be fubar.

[maddogx 13]

I too have to say I really love the campaign. Finally we get some proper characters again. :)

But has anyone noticed that Coops doesn't really sound black? I believe he has the same voice as a character from OFP and/or ArmA (been a while since I played those campaigns) and it just sounds so... white. Can't really explain it. Maybe I'm just imagining things.

[Z-Nine 1]

I too have to say I really love the campaign. Finally we get some proper characters again. :)

But has anyone noticed that Coops doesn't really sound black? I believe he has the same voice as a character from OFP and/or ArmA (been a while since I played those campaigns) and it just sounds so... white. Can't really explain it. Maybe I'm just imagining things.

I have to agree it doesn't fit his character that well compared to the other soldiers.. but I've adjusted to it already. Not horrible, but not super awesome either. It's probably because I've heard the voice on other actors already in ArmA, I just can't get it out of my head I guess.