ArmA2 1.03 Impressions - ALL Impressions/Videos/Screenies Here

[imustkill 0]

OFP, ArmA, and now ArmA2 are by far some of the most ambitious games developed for their respective times, and they are developed by a relatively small company.

What BIS does that very few other developers do is give those who play their games complete access to them (ie. they are relatively easy to modify when compared to other titles). Even if you don't want to face the learning curve of doing so, you can still reap the rewards that come from the work of others in the community.

There is no possible way that a company the size of BIS can detect all of the defects within their software. I work in Quality Assurance for a small software company. One of our products is 9 years old and we have found over 13,000 defects (and still finding more every day) over the course of the years. The majority of those defects are reported by our clients.

Plus - BIS has a pretty nice track record for releasing good patches.

~My 2 cents.

[Binkowski 26]

Well, this isn't anything new.

:o:

^^That sums up my opinion^^

Although, that violin should be smaller. But eh. Nothings perfect.

[Cheeba 10]

Hey, if a civilian company can make a better war game than the american military (AA3 laff) then that alone speaks for itself.

Granted AA3 is a free game, but it was designed to be a virtual recruiter and instead turned out to be a pile of garbage...ArmAII is more of a recruiter game. But, as it is now, ArmAII has its fair share of bugs...sure, ok. But its is FAR from unplayable, I rarely come across any bugs on Evo or Domination gamemodes.

Only desync and laggy conditions with 50ms in the server. Maybe a netcode patch...

[flake 10]

ArmAII is more of a recruiter game...

haha well ive realised that if i ever get sent to war i would be dead in 2 mins so probably not the best advert for joining an army

[Amuro 10]

I'm very undisappointed (is this even a word, lol) !

[bender316 10]

Funny how people find it ok to pay 50 $$ for beta.

[Amuro 10]

Funny how people find it ok to pay 50 $$ for beta.

Only paid $37, if don't count shipping it's only $29.

[Andi 10]

haha well ive realised that if i ever get sent to war i would be dead in 2 mins so probably not the best advert for joining an army

LoL, that's the truest statement ever made. Most def :D

[sakura_chan 9]

That "soldier walking through buildings" bug is due to the fact that soldiers intentionally don't have any collision detection with map objects. This is done to ease their movement a bit and prevent them from getting stuck often (like vehicles do). You can edit the ai to completely ignore buildings, its a bit awsome.

[Amuro 10]

haha well ive realised that if i ever get sent to war i would be dead in 2 mins so probably not the best advert for joining an army

You would last longer than 2min. No one can turn off grass in RL, and the AI is dumber.

[Tennouheika 10]

(AA3 laff)

Granted AA3 is a free game, but it was designed to be a virtual recruiter and instead turned out to be a pile of garbage

Not to go too far off topic, but what makes AA3 "garbage?" I think the game so far has turned out to be pretty great. The only problem it seems to have had was the servers not being able to handle the load at release.

But if you're going to judge a game based on the servers at launch not allowing people to play, then Half Life 2 must have been terrible since customers weren't able to play that game on release day either.

[Tex Zero 10]

....you seem to WANT to be frustrated and not accepting any future progress.

No. I don't want the frustration. I really want the game to work. I'm am however disappointed that BIS released this game with so many glaring issues and I'm concerned that that will cause new players to Arma (like me) to give up on the game. Particularly when some of those issues are pretty fundemental (like collision detection) and destroy the emersion of the game. I know that a lot of these issues seem to be contained to the SP game. But thats where the new players start. A bad experience here will taint the players experience going forward.

Of course, the Fanbois won't care that bugs and problems might drive "noobs" away, but without sales they may not be an Arma III or a BIS to build it or update Arma II.

It's now not perfect. Accept it. It will get better. Accept it.

No. Why should I accept it? There is a reasonable expectation that a product will work as advertised. If you had hardware that periodically failed to work in some fundamental way you'd RTM it.

This is a different way of development then you are use to.

That must have been in the fine print and I missed it. Oh. there it is... "This product is still under development. Thanks for the fifty bucks." :p

What BIS does that very few other developers do is give those who play their games complete access to them

One of the reasons I want Arma II to be great. I applaud BIS's committment to the community and the communitys committment to Arma.

There is no possible way that a company the size of BIS can detect all of the defects within their software.

So run an public beta program. Invite the whole community to take part. There's obviously no shortage of willing participants. Hell, I'll sign up. Just don't ask me to pay for the privaledge of beta testing.

Look. I know this game is huge. I know that in terms of the scale and scope its way beyond other games. I just think that Arma II was released to early - and that disappoints me.

[maddogx 13]

Just don't ask me to pay for the privaledge of beta testing.

Pay for the "privilege of beta testing"? So what, you think once the game is bug-free you'll have to buy it again? :rolleyes:

[Macadam Cow 1]

Pay for the "privilege of beta testing"? So what, you think once the game is bug-free you'll have to buy it again? :rolleyes:

That's exactly what I was going to say, If you guys thought you buy a beta version then just put in on the shelf and wait for 6 months, you'll discover a whole new game without having to pay anything more !

Im kinda bored of all these comments saying ArmA is an unfinished game. :plain:

First because it's not true, there's bugs, no one is saying it's bug free, but god, the experience it offer is so unique ! I just don't understand how you guys can't get over those "details".

ArmA as so much to offer in a such unique way, there's not one game that provide this experience.

Im 100% confindent that BIS is working hard to release patches, just as they always did (the last patch of ArmA1 has been release a bit more than 1 month ago). This is just how it works and I don't know many studios that support their game like BIS do.

It might be hard words, but for me, players that can't get over those disadvantages and leave the game are not a big lost for the community.

Excuse my local english

[cartier90 0]

If BIS charged me £75 for this game or $120 , Id buy it. Why ?, because there is much more to this game than meets the eye.

There are very , very few games out there that stand in the free roaming genre that have dynamic AI. Discounting a few combat flight sims.

This by itself and the fact that it is so flexible that Militaries worldwide are using a version of it tells me that this is special game not too be compared

with 'blockbuster' ones that we may be used too.

As others have said above me, BIS DO support their games with patches that DO sort out issues - we only see part of the picture, namely a consumers one.

We are not BIS's finance dept or their management so we dont know what pressure there was too release when they did. If given more time can any of you

assume they wouldnt prefer to have fixed issues prior too release ? - given their fastidious nature of accuracy it doesnt seem likely.

[DetCord 96]

As a long time OFP player that migrated to ArmA following it's initial release, I am highly disappointed with this latest iteration from one of the smallest but tier one development houses in the world bar none. The game itself is horrendously optimized, far more so than ArmA ever was. Texture streaming is absolutely awful, coupled with the engines inability to properly render LODs' at any given time, not to mention the vast amount of bugs. I almost quit the genre following the release of ArmA because of similar issues, however, I stuck with it because I knew that this excellent community would fix said issues and, for the most part, they did. Sadly, all of the lessons that we thought were learned from ArmA seemed to have been tossed aside, continuing with the same thought process, BIS has created yet another sim that suffers from some of the same elements of the previous title, and it is far worse in many aspects, especially the vast performance problems.

But even more important is the low performance: Even on overclcoked highest-end hardware (Core i7; 12 GiByte RAM and a GTX 285 with 2 GiByte VRAM) ArmA 2 becomes a slide show (less than 15 fps) running at 1,280 x 1,024 pixels with very high details. You have to go to low or medium details and have to activate Pixel Doubling (which is ugly) to get playable framerates. Given the performance you shouldn't even think about Anti Aliasing, but the Real Virtuality Engine doesn't support it, as well as any SLI or Crossfire modes, anyway.

This impressive visualization is ruined by the bad LoD and the aggressive Streaming system as well as the post processing effects: The extremely exaggerated Motion Blur can be dealt with, but the Depth of Field which comes into effect in a short distance doesn't just soften the environment but also opponents who are more or less made invisible by that - so lower details are much better from a gameplay related point of view. Biggest drawback: Even on a graphics card with 2 GiByte VRAM ArmA 2 loads high resolution object textures at a very late time. Thus it is possible that a wooden box is made of a washy bitmap and until you get close enough you don't even recognize that the brow something is supposed to be a wooden texture. At closer distances on the other hand the textures are sharp and coherent. The animations are convincing and alarmingly realistic in some situations - especially those of the NPCs, who by the way are quite details except the faces.

ArmA 2 looks great in most parts, but the impressive graphics can't be run on any system at the moment - the performance is a disaster. To get the framerate to an acceptable level you have to lower the visual quality because of what the graphical experience suffers. The clipping bugs and the collision detection are further drawbacks. On the other hand the SSAA feature is unmatched by any other game at the moment.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,685770/Armed-Assault-2-Graphics-card-benchmarks-and-visual-quality-compared/Practice/

Edited July 10, 2009 by DetCord

[MehMan 0]

Dunno, I'm not getting the same problems the reviewer is. And many of us arent.

[DetCord 96]

Dunno, I'm not getting the same problems the reviewer is. And many of us arent.

Some aren't but a lot of people are. A simple peruse of the "HardForums" topic (70+ pages) or a simple google search reveals as much. I've tested it on three systems, one high-end desktop, one mid-range and a gaming laptop, and the performance was almost identical, especially around urban centers. Now a buddy of mine with a completely mid-range system has almost no issues running it at high at a decent resolution. These are certainly related to optimization issues that plagued ArmA. There is such a vast majority of people complaining about said issues that it certainly isn't a moot point

[cartier90 0]

I suppose Devil, its all dependent on the experience of the individual. I have a mid-high end system and it runs quite well. Only in large battles does fps drop below 30 - Something I find unplayable. Now my initial reaction to your post was 'oh for gods sakes ' another one, but if your having issues on a reasonable system its hard for you to see the game in any other way.

Again, it has to be said, has anyone the expertise to even attempt a similar game ?

[Zombie_Mod 0]

That's exactly what I was going to say, If you guys thought you buy a beta version then just put in on the shelf and wait for 6 months, you'll discover a whole new game without having to pay anything more !

Im kinda bored of all these comments saying ArmA is an unfinished game. :plain:

First because it's not true, there's bugs, no one is saying it's bug free, but god, the experience it offer is so unique ! I just don't understand how you guys can't get over those "details".

ArmA as so much to offer in a such unique way, there's not one game that provide this experience.

Im 100% confindent that BIS is working hard to release patches, just as they always did (the last patch of ArmA1 has been release a bit more than 1 month ago). This is just how it works and I don't know many studios that support their game like BIS do.

It might be hard words, but for me, players that can't get over those disadvantages and leave the game are not a big lost for the community.

Excuse my local english

GRRRRR!!! Arma2 IS unfinished - I am fed up hearing that it is fit for purpose!!

Look, I've spent valuable hours of my life inputting bugs into Dev-Heaven and using FRAPS to capture them on video, its time for the fanboy self-delusion to STOP!!! I'm 37 years old ffs, I'm not on here bringing Arma down for the good of my health, I'm here because I am seriously pissed off!

The AI is broken. In David Brent style - FACT. It doesn't work all of the time, usually when you need it most. It has trouble navigating and fighting (inbetween having fantastic X-Ray and better than 20/20 vision.) - FACT. The AI can't drive - FACT. The AI can't follow you up stairs of a building - FACT.

For almost TEN YEARS this engine has been in development, and HUMMVs and cars STILL can't drive roads properly. Don't you think, instead of allowing me to play a chicken in the Armory, the BIS dev team should have sorted that out? Sometimes I wonder how they work.

Those guys who only play Multiplayer won't notice the broken AI because they probably don't USE AI. Those of us who LIKE single player games will notice this game is busted.

Fanboys, do not insult my intelligence by claiming this game is not severely bugged - it is, and I've spent a lot of time gathering proof and producing steps on how to reproduce the defects.

PS: Has anyone seen the video of the suicidal harrier jump jet yet? Sums Arma2 up.

Just as well I can play as a goat in the Armory or I'd have dumped this game :D

[DLcmdr 0]

you guys with your elitist view of this matter are the ones that could make bis go into bankrupcy.

I agree this game should leave itself in the gameplay aspect, but it needs much better optimization to reach the big public.

Without big public there is no money, and without money there is no bis.

And without bis there is no more arma2.

If you dont comprehend such a simple business management aspect then i hope your work isnt anything related to economics.

This game already has an outdated engine, speacially physics wise, if they dont put their act together, in no less than 6 months, specially with the coming of the new gt300 from nvidia and the octo core processors from intel with dx11, this game could be done for good.

Edited July 10, 2009 by DLcmdr

[cartier90 0]

..

No it wont.

I have a e8500 @3800 with an abit ip35pro and a geforce gtx275 and cant even run it on medium with constant framdrops.

The game is simply not playable at todays resolutions without uber i7´s and gtx285 or above in high settings.

I have a mid-high system (quad) with only a GTS250 and run at good rates..., never less than 27fps in a heavy battle. You have an axe to grind...

Vista 64

186.18

Geforce GTx275

Always the same fps 28... with lots of downs to 5/4 fps

Your computers fucked - 4/5 fps !

'Game done for good' GTFO - this game will only increase in popularity as the level of the 'average' gaming system increases.

Edited July 10, 2009 by cartier90

[maddogx 13]

you guys with your elitist view of this matter are the ones that could make bis go into bankrupcy.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The people you call "elitists" are exactly the ones who keep the game alive, making addons, mods and missions and thus giving Arma2 near endless replayablity, just like with OFP. :)

[DLcmdr 0]

..

I have a mid-high system (quad) with only a GTS250 and run at good rates..., never less than 27fps in a heavy battle. You have an axe to grind...

Your computers fucked - 4/5 fps !

'Game done for good' GTFO - this game will only increase in popularity as the level of the 'average' gaming system increases.

You can shove your insults up your ass.

Either you ran it everything on low or you are full of shit.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The people you call "elitists" are exactly the ones who keep the game alive, making addons, mods and missions and thus giving Arma2 near endless replayablity, just like with OFP. :)

I guess those people helped bis not to go nearly bankrupt and therefore rushing arma1 and releasing it in such a lackluster state.

The games increase popularity if they have a friendly mp, with all that elitist coop crap and the poor graphics compared to dx11 in december we will see.

Because the same crap was said for Arma and noone plays that game, period.

[Scrub 0]

...

The AI is broken. In David Brent style - FACT. It doesn't work all of the time, usually when you need it most. It has trouble navigating and fighting (inbetween having fantastic X-Ray and better than 20/20 vision.) - FACT. The AI can't drive - FACT. The AI can't follow you up stairs of a building - FACT.

Those guys who only play Multiplayer won't notice the broken AI because they probably don't USE AI. Those of us who LIKE single player games will notice this game is busted.

Here's the problem with what you have stated (for me, a supposed fanboy) all these statements are observable FACT on my system:

-Are there bugs, sure are!

-AI doesn't work all the time- a quite fair statement, but about 90%, it does.

-AI has trouble navigating, and fighting - maybe if you are being really specific about a situation, also fair. However, I've not seen them have issues getting to me in a fight, even over long distances, using cover and suppression. The slow targeting issue is being addressed -another however- is the people that will bitch about them being as good as an aware human and firing too fast:j:. But alas, I'd rather read that complaint.

-AI can't follow you up stairs??!!? On my system this is a flat out lie. Do you know how many times I've made up editor missions to play by myself and was shot in the back from my nook in both the parking ramp like building or the grain elevator? I've become paranoid as hell and scripted triggers onto the mines I've laid just outside the doorway to at least alert me to their presence. From my perspective, this is simply not true. Not being a fanboy, I have not seen this issue at all.

In driving I've seen an AI convoy get locked up in a situation they can't undo, and some wandering on and off the road (not much of that at all anymore though) that could use some tweaking.

On my system, it's far from 'broken'. Certainly some points that blow it, but what unscripted game is perfect out of the box and can handle all the creative situations millions of players will discover? It will get better. You're 37 and should be able to be patient, right? It is done, you bought the game, you don't like it's current state. It is being supported and will get better.

Good luck in your fixes.